theme 2 - data, figures and graphs Flashcards
what is a binomial distribution? what is it based on?
-a distribution of binary data where there is only 2 outcomes e.g. pass or fail
-based on a fixed number of trials characterised by the probability of success in a single trial and the number of trials
what is a poisson distribution?
(similar to binomial but) measures the number of events / distribution of binary data from an infinite sample so gives probability of getting r events in a population whereas binomial distribution is a fixed sample so measures probability of getting r events in a trial
how is normal distribution different to binomial and poisson?
its for continuous data instead of discrete e.g. measuring the weights if newborn babies
why does a normal distribution usually form a bell shaped curve?
because most biological events are the consequence of multiple variables
what can standard deviation be used to determine?
the between subject variability or the subject variability
how do you calculate standard deviation?
sd = square root of variance
to find the variance:
1. find the mean of the data
2.subtract the mean from each data point
3. square each deviation
4. add all the squared deviations together
5. divide the sum by the number of data points in the population
then the sd is just square root of that
(this is for population sd, if youre doing sample sd then at the end you have to divide the sum by the number of data points MINUS 1)
why use a table to present data?
-concise and effective way to present large amounts of data
-data with differing units can be displayed
-precise values can be displayed
why use a boxplot instead of histograms?
-although both show variables divided into groups, box plots can show the spread of continuous data and any outliers
what are figure legends, what do they do, what do they need to contain?
-self contained text associated with each figure, containing all the info necessary to understand the figure
-they tell the reader what any abbreviations/symbols/colours ect mean
-they need a short title as well as the figure number
what are figures?
they are collections of graphs, tables and images grouped together to serve a particular purpose
what is quantitative data and give an example
numerical data such as the va score of a patient or height/weight
what is qualitative data and give an example
data that has been split into categories and is typically more descriptive e.g. a patients feedback on how well they felt their optometry appointment went
what is continuous data?
data that can be measured so can take any value e.g. length
what is discrete data?
count data e.g. number of students in a class/ shoe size
what is ratio data, giving an example and what is its opposite?
differences between measurements where a true zero exists so there can be no negative value in ratio data e.g. height and weight
interval data
what is interval data, give an example? what is its opposite?
differences between measurements but there is no true, measured on a scale where each point is placed at equal distance from one another e.g. temperature
ratio data
what is ordinal data, give an example and its opposite
data in ordered categories e.g. school grades like A, B, C
nomial data
what is nomial data, give an example and its opposite
data in categories with no ordering or direction e.g. hair colour
ordinal data