Basic Concepts in Statistics

Statistics a) the branch of mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation
of numerical data. b) numerical summaries of data obtained by measurement and
computation..

Data (plural of datum) information that represent the qualitative or quantitative

attributes of a set of variables.

Variable (random variable) a) a characteristic that can assume different values or can
be expressed as more than one values. b) the opposite of a constant, which is something
that can only assume one value and does not change, at least in the context of use. c) the
columns of data (matrix). d) all variables must be exhaustive, that is it must be possible
to assign a valid value to each observation, and mutually-exclusive, that is it must be
impossible to assign more than one valid value to any observation.

Observation (Unit of) a) the entity for which data for a study was collected (e.g.
individuals, households, states). b) usually, but not always the same as the unit of
analysis, the entity that is being analyzed by a study. C) the rows of a set of data.

Sample a) a subset of units to be observed selected randomly from a larger group or

population. b) a sample is taken from a population with the expectation that the sample is
representative of the population an analysis of the sample will reveal important
characteristics of the population, that is be generalizeable to the population.

Population a large group of units that the researcher wants to describe or understand,
from which a sample can be drawn and then generalized from. b) a study that observes
an entire population is a census.

Levels of Measurement a) the amount of information conveyed about the differences

among values of a variable among observations. b) there are four levels of measurement,
arranged in order from lowest to highest level of information, nominal, ordinal, interval,
and ratio. c) variable observed at a higher level of measurement (i.e. interval and ratio)
can generally be converted to a lower level but not vice versa. d) often statistics are
appropriate for one or more but not all levels of measurement.

Nominal (categorical, qualitative) a) a variable that simply groups observations into

categories without any order or relative value (e.g. males and females). b) if a nominal
variable is represented by a number, the number is merely a label or name and does not
connote a value or arithmetic operator (i.e. if females are represented as 1 and males as 2,
females are not of lower value than males and 2 females do not equal 1 male).

Ordinal a) a variable that ranks observations and allows for comparison (e.g. greater
than or less than) without specifying the distance between values. b) if an ordinal
variable is represented by a number, the number is merely a rank and the differences
between values do not need to be equal (e.g. an attitude scale of strongly agree, agree,
disagree, and strongly disagree).

Interval a) a variable that is measured in such a way that the distance between any two
values is equal but there is no meaningful zero point (i.e. negative values are possible).
b) technically the values of an interval variable can be added or subtracted but not
multiplied or divided (e.g. both income and wealth can be negative). c) almost all the
most powerful statistics can be employed on interval variables, which makes it practically
as useful as the ratio level.

Ratio a) a variable that is measured in such a way that the distance between any two
values is equal and there is a meaningful zero point (i.e. negative values are not possible).
b) ratio variable can be added or subtracted and multiplied or divided, so values can be
used to calculate ratios. c) many ratio variables are based on either time or counts. d)
with respect to statistics they are the most inclusive.

Descriptive Statistics statistical techniques used to numerically summarize and

describe a variable or set of variables.

Inferential Statistics (statistical induction) statistical techniques that are used to

generalize from descriptive statistics of a sample to the unknown or unmeasurable
population characteristics from which the sample was derived.

Population Parameter a) a parameter is to a population as a statistic is to a sample. b)

a population parameter is generally theoretical and is unobservable. b) symbolized using
the Greek alphabet (e.g. mean is , mew, and standard deviation is , sigma).