Introduction to Business Statistics Flashcards
Business statistics
specialty area of statistics which are applied in the business setting
Descriptive statistics
used to describe the total group of numbers
Inferential statistics
infers relationships from the population of numbers
mode
most frequent number
median
middle number
ratios
number representing relationships
mean
average number
sample size
the number of people to ask
statistical model
representation of what will probably happen
probability
the likelihood of something happening
just-in-time
reduces waste by organizing goods delivered as needed
Six Sigma
a term used in business to describe a process that results in no more that 3.4 defects out of a million
control chart
a statistical graph that shows process changes over time
Qualitative variables
categories that result in descriptive values or labels
Nominal variables
qualitative variables that only refer to information by name and does not have to be listed in any order
ordinal variables
results that are listed in a certain order or follow some type or ranking system
Binary variables
categories that will only result in one of two options
Quantitative variables
categories that result in numerical values or real numbers
continuous variable
a measurement that can assume an endless number of values
discrete variable
A measurement that has a limited number of possible values
Population
indicates a group that has been designated for gathering data from
Data
information collected from the population
Descriptive statistics
give information that describes the data in some manner
Inferential statistics
makes inferences about populations using data drawn from the population
sample
a set of data taken from the population to represent the population
Statistical model
a combination of inferences based on collected data and population understanding used to predict information in an idealized form
correlation
the relationship between two variables or sets of data. A correlation test is one type of statistical model
response variable
the observed variable, or variable in question
dependent variable
a condition or piece of data in an experiment that is controlled or influenced by an outside factor, most often the independent variable
explanatory variable
a condition or piece of data in an experiment that can be controlled or changed
Nominal data
categorical data that assigns numerical values as an attribute to an object, animal, person, or any other non-number
Ordinal data
data that can be ordered and ranked but not measured, such as levels of achievement, prizes, rankings, and placements.
Discrete data
data that cannot be divided. It is distinct and can only occur in certain values
Continuous data
data that can be divided infinitely; it does not have any value distinction such as time, height, and weight.
Bivariate data
deals with two variables that can change and are compared to find relationships
independent variable
a condition or piece of data in an experiment that can be controlled or changed
dependent variable
a condition or piece of data in an experiment that is controlled or influenced by an outside factor, most often the independent variable.
univariate data
one variable in a data set that is analyzed to describe a scenario or experiment
positive correlation
where the dependent variables and independent variables in a data set increase or decrease together.
negative correlation
where the dependent variables and independent variables in a data set either increase or decrease opposite from one another
Variable
an alphabetical character that represents an unknown number.
random variable
a variable that is subject to randomness, which means it can take on different values.
discrete random variable
a variable that represents numbers found by counting
probability distribution
has all the possible values of the random variable and the associated probabilities.
continuous random variables
random variables that are found from measuring
bias
the intentional or unintentional favoring of one group or outcome over other potential groups or outcomes in the population.
non-representative sample
refers to when the method with which a sample is selected specifically excludes certain groups from the research, whether intentionally or unintentionally
nonresponse bias
describes the members of a sample that do not choose to respond or participate in the research and the characteristics of those members
voluntary bias
describes the members of a sample that choose to respond or participate in the research, whether intentionally or unintentionally
leading questions
questions that encourage the answer expected from the researcher
social desirability
he tendency of participants to answer inaccurately, based on the way they feel they should answer rather than the truth
non-representative sample
a sample selected by a method that specifically excludes certain groups from the research, whether intentionally or unintentionally
Leading questions
questions that encourage the answers desired by the researcher
social desirability
refers to the tendency of participants to answer inaccurately, based on the way they feel they should answer, rather than provide a truthful response
raw data
processing and analyzing all the data collected from sources
quantitative research
software is designed for questionnaire-based research
qualitative research
research, such as interviews and focus groups
Open source
software is available with a license
econometrics
the analysis of specific economic data using statistical methods.
Freeware
an option when you want to get hold of some software for analyzing data.
Proprietary
software involves the software publisher, developer or another person keeping the individual property rights to the computer software
visual analytics
involves data mining, geometric structures and trees or graphs.
sample size
a minimum or maximum number of people needed for analysis
cross tabulation analysis
involves looking for relationships between groups which might not be apparent from looking at the raw data
add-on
a software extension
formula
a set of instructions you write that tells Excel what and how to calculate numerical data
function
the part of the formula that tells Excel how to perform the calculation
syntax
the language or rules of how the formula is structured
