INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS

STATISTICS
• As a METHOD it refers to orderly processes of data collection, organization,
presentation and interpretation (tabulation of data, computation of rates and
frequency distribution, graphic presentation)
• As a DATA it refers to quantitative data affected to a marked extent by a
multiplicity of causes.
– Data are collected in order to measure:
• (number of deaths, births, specific diseases, hospital admissions)

BRANCHES OF STATISTICS
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
• Statistical techniques for summarizing and presenting data in a form that will
make them easier to analyze and interpret
• EX. Counts, proportions, tables, graphs, summary measures
INFERENTIAL STATISTICS
• Concerned in making estimates, predictions, generalizations, and conclusions about a
target population based on information from a sample
• 1. Estimation
• 2. Hypothesis testing

CLASSIFICATION OF STATISTICAL DATA

Demographic
Ex. Population size, age, sex, geographic distribution, mortality, morbidity, growth rate
Health Status
Ex. Causes and distribution of mortality and morbidity as to residence, place of
occurrence, age, sex
Health Resources
Ex. Number and distribution of health facilities, health manpower, health
expenditures.
Health-related Socio-economic Environmental Factors
Ex. Water supply, excreta disposal, school enrollment, food establishment, transports,
food intake/habits

BIOSTATISTICS
Making Sense of Uncertainty
• No measurement is perfectly accurate or exact
• Data of unknown quality are useless!
– The Science of epidemiology rests on statistics, Because Public health is
concerned with populations, and statistics provide information and interpret
data.
– The term statistics refers to both the numbers that describe the health of
populations and the science that helps to interpret those numbers.
• Way to express the degree of uncertainty
A. Probability
• Used to described the variety and frequency of past outcomes under similar conditions
as a way of predicting what should happen in the future.
– P value-use to express the degree of probability or improbability of a certain
result in an experiment
 – Expresses the probability that the observed result could have occurred by
chance alone
– A p value 0f 0.05 means that if an experiment were repeated 100 times, the
same answer would result 95 of those times, while 5 times would yield a
different answer.
B. Confidence interval
– This is a range of values within which the true result probably falls.
– The narrower the confidence interval, the lower the likelihood of random error.
– Are often expressed as margins of error, as in political polling, when a politician’s
support might be estimated at 50 percent. The confidence interval would be
47% to 53%

• While p values and confidence intervals are useful concepts in deciding how seriously to
take an experimental result, it is wrong to place too much confidence in an experiment
just because it yields a low p value or a narrow confidence interval.

BIOSTATISTICS (Uncertainty of Science)’

• People expect science to answers to the health questions that concern them, in many
ways science has satisfied these expectations. but the answers are not definitive as
people want them to be.

STATISTICS
• The term statistics refers to both the numbers that describe the health of
populations and the science that helps to interpret those numbers.
USES OF STATISTICS
• Problems of estimates
• Problems of comparison
• Health need identification
• Analysis of problem and trends
• Epidemiologic evaluation
• Program planning
• Budget preparation and justification
• Administrative decision making
• Health education
Variable - measurement of a characteristic

TYPES OF VARIABLE
Qualitative
• numerical representation of the categories is for labeling/coding and NOT for
comparison
• Examples: sex, religion, place of residence, disease status
Quantitative
• values indicate a quantity or amount and can be expressed numerically
• values can be arranged according to magnitude
• Ex. age, height, weight, BP
 LEVELS OF MEASUREMENTS EXAMPLES

a classificatory scale where the sex, race, blood

Nominal
categories are used as labels only group, patient ID
likert scale,
used for categories which can be ordered
Ordinal psychosocial
or ranked
scale
same characteristics as ordinal; zero
point is arbitrary and does not mean
Interval temperature, IQ
absence of the
characteristic
weight, BP,
same characteristics as ordinal; a
Ratio height, doctor
meaningful zero point exist
visits

ORGANIZATION OF DATA
TABULATION
• It refers to the arrangement of any data in an orderly sequence, so that they can be
presented concisely and compactly and so that they can be understood easily

Types of data for Tabulation

• 1 Frequency distribution
– Data are grouped according to some scale of classification, where the sum of
the entries is equal to the total.
• 2. Correlation data- used to compare two or more frequencies
• 3. Time series data- some variable changes over a period of time is the one being
presented
Parts of a Table
• Title- it should state the objective of the table.
• Stubs- indicate the basis of classification of the rows or horizontal series of figures
• Column headings-indicate the basis of classification of the columns or vertical series of
figures.
• Body of the table- this is made up of the figures filling the cells or compartments
brought about by the coordinates of rows and columns
• Marginal Totals- refer to the column totals and row totals
• Footnote-indicate the source of information

GRAPHING
• The purpose is to convey a simpler idea of what the statistical table contains.
• Statistical graph:
– a series of lines joined together, bars or enclosed areas, drawn to represent
certain statistical information under consideration.
• Intended for comparison, to show correlation,
• For the purpose of data presentation
• Primary tools for presentation and analysis.

Parts of a Graph
Title- indicate clearly and briefly what the figures in the body of the graph stand for, how
the data were classified, and where and when obtained.
 This is placed at the bottom of the graph, preceded by number for easy
–
reference.
Axis- a graph has 2 axes, the vertical and the horizontal:
• Each represents separate scales of classification corresponding to the row and column
headings of the table being graphically presented.
• One of the axes is always quantitative scale while the other is either qualitative or
quantitative scales.
• Legend- this is needed when one is drawing more than one graph in a graphing space.
• This clarifies to what particular item each of the graph refers.
• It is placed either at the bottom of the graph or as close as possible to the
figures being identified.

• Body of the graph- these are the lines, bars or figures drawn within the graphing
space.
Different types of graphs
• Line graphs
– Used to graph time series data depict trends or changes with time with respect
to some other variables
• Histogram- used to graph continuous variables. A graphical representation, similar to
a bar chart in structure, that organizes a group of data points into user-specified
ranges.
• Polygon- Used to graph continuous variables
• Bar or stick graph- used to graph qualitative variables and discontinuous variables of
the quantitative variety.
• Pictorial diagram- usually in the form of rectangles, square or circles (pies), used to
depict the distribution of a whole with different segments representing different
frequencies
• Scatter point diagram- used to show relationship of simultaneous measurement

1Owner: Vianne C. Tabique

Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Science
CPHM - Intro to Biostatistics Reviewer - Sept. 2021