Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Introduction
This lesson will explain why the study of statistics is important, and it will introduce
you to some of the key terms and ideas that will be critical to understanding
subsequent lessons. Although this lesson is not math intensive, it lays the
foundation for understanding the mathematics that we will discuss in later lessons.
Key Terms
o Statistics
o Univariate data
o Bivariate data
o Multivariate data
o Population
o Sample
Objectives
Lesson
https://app1.universalclass.com/z/406/9770453/shortform/printpreview.htm?LessonID=55675&FLAG=PrintPreview 1/5
1/18/2020 © Universal Class, Inc. - Class Lesson: Lesson 1 - Statistics Terms and Motivation
Introduction to Statistics
Statistics is a subject that has earned a certain amount of notoriety because of its
misuse in various contexts. Nevertheless, statistics is a tool that, if used properly,
can be of tremendous help in math, science, engineering, history, politics, and
numerous other fields. As you study this subject, always keep in mind that statistics
is more than just math: it is not simply manipulation of numbers through addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division, and other mathematical operations. Statistics
also involves language and units: when a statistician (or layman) provides a
statistic, it involves a number and a label of some sort. For instance, the number
5.3 is not in and of itself a statistical value; "an average age of 5.3 years," however,
is a statistical value. This linguistic aspect of statistics sometimes allows a certain
amount of ambiguity that can be misleading. By studying statistics, you will equip
yourself to identify and understand both uses and abuses of this tool.
Statistics is used for quantifying sets of data such as attributes of a group of people
and measurements taken in a laboratory. Consider, for instance, the population of a
particular country. The people who reside in that country have varying heights:
some are short, some are tall, some are in between. If we wanted to compare the
height of this population with that of some other population in a convenient manner,
we would not want to compare individual people. Such a task would be burdensome
(the number of people in a country might be in the millions or billions) and would
not necessarily be particularly helpful as a means of comparing populations as a
whole. Instead, we can use an average or median height as the basis for our
comparison. These statistical values are single numbers that quantify the data (the
heights of a country's population) and that provide a convenient way to express and
compare certain characteristics of those data. Part of the goal of this course is to
teach you how to select and use statistical tools like averages and medians, as well
as a host of others, in assessing and comparing data.
Types of Data
A set of data can involve a single variable or multiple variables. In this course, we
will only consider data sets that involve one variable (univariate data) or two
variables (bivariate data). The height of persons in a particular country is an
example of univariate data, since there is only one variable: height. An example of
https://app1.universalclass.com/z/406/9770453/shortform/printpreview.htm?LessonID=55675&FLAG=PrintPreview 2/5
1/18/2020 © Universal Class, Inc. - Class Lesson: Lesson 1 - Statistics Terms and Motivation
bivariate data is a person's height with respect to his age; in this case, there are
two variables: age and height. Much of the course studies univariate data, but the
principles that apply in this case also be extended to multivariate data (two,
three, or more variables). The course also covers (to a lesser extent) bivariate data,
which allows us to explore concepts such as correlation and regression.
Practice Problem: A pollster wants to find out the relationship between age and
income for a certain segment of the population. How many variables are involved in
the data that the pollster must analyze?
Solution: The pollster is looking at two different aspects of the population: age and
income. Thus, he is dealing with two different variables (bivariate data).
It is important to note that the term population need not necessarily refer to
people. A population can be the set of all vehicles, the set of all potential outcomes
of an event or series of events, or the set of all entities of a given type (for
instance, the set of all stars in the universe). The population in a given context is
simply the set of all instances from which we might choose a sample for statistical
analysis.
https://app1.universalclass.com/z/406/9770453/shortform/printpreview.htm?LessonID=55675&FLAG=PrintPreview 3/5
1/18/2020 © Universal Class, Inc. - Class Lesson: Lesson 1 - Statistics Terms and Motivation
Exercises
https://app1.universalclass.com/z/406/9770453/shortform/printpreview.htm?LessonID=55675&FLAG=PrintPreview 4/5
1/18/2020 © Universal Class, Inc. - Class Lesson: Lesson 1 - Statistics Terms and Motivation
Answers to Exercises
1. a. Sample
b. Population
c. Sample
https://app1.universalclass.com/z/406/9770453/shortform/printpreview.htm?LessonID=55675&FLAG=PrintPreview 5/5