BIOSTATISTICS

Presented by:
Dr. Samia Farooqi
Senior Lecturer
UNITED COLLEGE OF PHYSICAL THERAPY
Learning Objectives
 Definition od Statistics
 Application of Statistics
 Definition of Biostatistics
 Methods of Statistics and their Definitions
 Common statistical terms and their definitions
STATISTICS

 The word “Statistics” is derived from Latin for ‘status’

indicating historical importance of data gathering.
 It is the science which deals with development and
application of the most appropriate methods for
the:
 Collection of data.
 Presentation of the collected data.
 Analysis and interpretation of the results.
 Making decisions on the basis of such analysis

(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed )

 STATISTICS

Statistics is Frequently used to describe sets of

data
Drawing conclusions (making estimates,
decisions, predictions, etc. about sets of data
based on sampling)

(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed )

Application of Statistics

Economics Engineering
• Forecasting • Construction
• Demographics • Materials

Sports Biostatistics
• Individual & Team • Biological experiments
Performance • Medical Biostatistics

(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed )

Scope of Biostatistics:
Biostatistics are the application of statistics to a
wide range of topics in biology.
It encompasses the design of biological
experiments, especially in medicine, pharmacy,
agriculture and fishery;

(Abhaya Indrayan (2012). Medical Biostatistics. CRC Press )

Statistical Methods

Statistical
Methods

Descriptive Inferential
Statistics Statistics

(Abhaya Indrayan (2012). Medical Biostatistics. CRC Press )

Methods of Statistics:

Descriptive Statistics
• Summarize or describe the important characteristics of a
known set of population data
Inferential Statistics
• Use sample data to make inferences (or
generalizations) about a population
(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd
ed )
Descriptive statistics:
Involves:
• Collecting Data
• Presenting Data
• Characterizing Data

(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd ed )

Descriptive statistics:

 Raw data is presented in a logical form

 Raw data is made more manageable
 Patterns can be seen from organized data
• i. Frequency tables
• ii. Graphical techniques
• iii. Measures of Central Tendency
• iv. Measures of Spread (variability)

(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed. )

Examples:
 A pet shop may conduct a study on the number of fish sold each day for one
month and determine that an average of 10 fish were sold each day. The
average is an example of descriptive statistics.
 Some other measurements in descriptive statistics answer questions such as:
• How widely dispersed is this data?
• Are there a lot of different values?' or 'Are many of the values the same?
• What value is in the middle of this data?
• Where does a particular data value stand with respect with the other values in
the data set?‘
A graphical representation of data is another method of descriptive statistics.
Examples of this visual representation are histograms, bar graphs and pie graphs
(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed )
(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed )
(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed )
Inferential statistics:

Used to make an inference or predictions on the

basis of data about:
• The (non)existence of a relationship between
the variables.
• Hypothesis testing
• Tests of significance, construction of confidence
intervals etc.
(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed. )
 If you need to know the average height of men in a particular city, it is not
practically possible to do it on an individual basis
 In this regard, you need inferential Statistics to make inferences about height of
the target population using data or sample drawn from the same.

(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed. )

(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed. )
Common Statistical terms:
 Observation
• Any record or information whether numerical or categorical is called an observation
• e.g. no,. Of incidents taken place in a year 2015 from Jan to April can be represented
as 1, 3 , 0 and 4 respectively
 Data
• Data can be defined as a collection of facts or information from which conclusions may
be drawn.
 Variable
• A variable is any characteristics, number, or quantity that can be measured or counted
• A variable can be changed or manipulated
• E.g. Age, sex, business income and expenses, country of birth, capital expenditure, class
grades, eye color and vehicle types
(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed. )
Common statistical terms:

 Independent variables
• Precede dependent variables in time
• Are often manipulated by the researcher
• The treatment or intervention
that is used in a study
 Dependent variables
• What is measured as an outcome
in a study
• Values depend on the independent variable
(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed. )
Example
 If the amount of water plant receives, it will affect the growth/height of the
plant
 The amount of water is the independent variable because it can be
changed
 The height of the plant is dependent variable because it is affected the
amount of water received
Common Statistical terms:

Parameters
• Summary data from a population
Statistic
• Summary data from a sample

(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed. )

Population and Sample

(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed. )

Population:

 A population is the totality of the observations, either a

group of people, animals or objects from which sample
is being drawn
 e.g. automobile crash victims in an emergency room
 The number of observation is called the size of
population
 e.g. 60 students in a class
 The size of a population can be finite or infinite

Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed. )

 Population:
 A population is called finite if it is possible to count its
individuals.
 Sometimes it is not possible to count the units contained
in the population. Such a population is called infinite or
uncountable
 Sample is a subset of data taken from the Population

(Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”, 3rd Ed. )

Sources of Population

(Abhaya Indrayan (2012). Medical Biostatistics. CRC Press )

Population and Sample

(Abhaya Indrayan (2012). Medical Biostatistics. CRC Press )

 Example: A college dean is interested in learning about the average age of
faculty. Identify the basic terms in this situation.
 The population is the age of all faculty members at the college.
 A sample is any subset of that population. For example, we might select 10
faculty members and determine their age.
 The variable is the “age” of each faculty member.
 One data would be the age of a specific faculty member.
 The data would be the set of values in the sample
 The parameter of interest is the “average” age of all faculty at the college.
 The statistic is the “average” age for all faculty in the sample.
 Summary

 Statistics is a branch of sciences involves processing of data.

 Steps of data processes involves collection, presentation, analysis and
interpretation of a set of data
 Statistical methods are used to process data i.e., Descriptive and Inferential
Statistics
 Descriptive Statistics refer to the collection, presentation and summarization
of data
 Inferential Statistics involves analyzing and estimation and prediction of the
data
 Population consists of the totality of the observations from which sample is
being drawn.
REFERENCES

1. Walpole, R. E. 1982. “Introduction to Statistics”,

3rd Ed., Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. New York.
2. Muhammad, F. 2005. “Statistical Methods and
Data Analysis”, Kitab Markaz, Bhawana Bazar
Faisalabad.