o Is there a significant difference in the
UNIT 1
What is statistics?
 a branch of Science that deals with the
collection, organization, presentation, analysis
and interpretation of data
What is the importance of Statistics in business and
economics?
 Statistics is an indispensable tool in business
and economics.
 Statistics helps an economist understand
various business and economic problems such
as poverty and unemployment; assessing
relationship between different economic
variables; studying trends/patterns of economic
data; and formulating appropriate economic
policies.
2 Major Areas in Statistical Analysis
1. Descriptive Statistics
 comprise those methods concerned with
organizing, presenting, summarizing, and
analyzing a set of data without drawing
conclusions or inferences about a population.
 Example: Tabular and Graphical Presentation;
Numerical Description
 Common Research Questions
o What is the total monthly sales of books
at the XU Bookcenter?
o What is the distribution of employees in
a shoe factory in terms age?
o What are the common products sold
online?
o How many of the call center agents are
college graduates?
2. Inferential Statistics
 comprise those methods concerned with the
analysis of sample data leading to predictions or
inferences about the population.
 Example: Point and Interval Estimation,
Prediction, Hypothesis Testing
 Common Research Questions
o Is there a significant decrease in the
weight before and after enrolling in a
Zumba class?
o Is there a significant linear relationship
between weather temperature and
sales of ice cream?
o Is there a significant association
between gender and the choice of
brand of shoes?
mean lifespan between Oppo and
Samsung cellphones?
Definition of Terms
 Population: a collection of all units from which
the data are to be collected
 Parameter: a numerical characteristic of the
population
 Sample: a part or subset of the population
 Statistic: a numerical characteristic of the
sample
Classifications of Data
1. Qualitative Data: are data for which no
numerical measure exists
 These are usually expressed in categories or
kind.
 Example: Car color, brand of laptop, gender of
employees
2. Quantitative Data: are data that can be
expressed in numbers.
 Types of Quantitative Data
a. Discrete Quantitative Data – can be
counted; thus can assume value which is a
whole number (Ex. Number of employees)
b. Continuous Quantitative Data – can be
measured using some units of
measurements which may take some
decimal numbers (Ex. Weight of fish)
Levels of Measurements
1. Nominal: consists of named categories but no
implied ranking of categories (Ex. Brand of
alcohol)
2. Ordinal: the categories of a variable can be
ranked (Ex. Level of agreement: strongly agree,
agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree)
3. Interval: contains the property of identity,
order, and equality of scale but does not
possess the absolute zero property (Ex.
Temperature) CAN BE NEGATIVE
4. Ratio: contains the property of identity, order,
equality of scale and the absolute zero
property (Ex. weight) NO NEGATIVE