Introduction to Statistics

Statistics:
Statistics is the science of collecting, organizing, presenting, analyzing and interpreting data to
assist in taking more effective decision.

Data
Data can be defined as a collection of facts or information from which conclusions may be drawn.

Example:
1. The Data shown below are CGPA obtained by a student in 12 semesters
3.21, 3.22, 3.47, 3.50, 3.67, 3.68, 3.78, 3.88, 3.89, 3.90, 3.97, 3.97
The data helps us compare his scores and learn his progress.

There are two types of data

Primary data:
Primary data: Data collected by the investigator himself/ herself for a specific purpose.
Example:
Suppose we want to collect data on the socio-economic condition of the students of EWU.
I want to collect information on height and weight of the student of STA 102(section 3)
Data collected by a student for his/her thesis or research project.

Secondary data:
Data collected by someone else for some other purpose (but being utilized by the investigator for
another purpose).
Example:
Suppose we collect data from the publication of Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh bureau of statistics (BBS),
World Bank etc.
These will be then our secondary data.

Source of Data
Primary source: Directly collected from field operation
Secondary source: Published /Unpublished documents: Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh bureau of
statistics (BBS), World Bank, NIPORT etc.

Variable
Variable
Something which varies is called a variable.
There are basically two types of variables: Qualitative and Quantitative
Qualitative variable:
A qualitative variable is one for which numerical measurement is not possible but can be classified into
different classes.
Example:
1.Hair color (brown, black, white etc.)
2.Gender (Male, Female),
3.Marital status (single, married, widowed, divorced or separated)
4.Religion (Muslim or Non-Muslim)

Quantitative variable:
A quantitative variable is one for which the resulting observations are numeric and thus possesses a
natural ordering.
Quantitative variables may be further classified as
i.Discrete Variable
ii.Continuous Variable

Discrete Variable
When a variable can only the isolated values is called the discrete variable
Example:
1.No of students in different classes
2.Family size
3.No of accident in one day etc.

Continuous Variable
A variable which takes any value within an interval is called a continuous variable.

Example:

1.Marks in the test

2.Height
3.Weight etc.

Population & Sample

Population:
A population is the collection of all items of interest in a particular study
Sample:
A sample is a representative part of the population