NORTHERN LUZON ADVENTIST COLLEGE

“The School That Prepares for Life”

S.Y 2020-2021

(CORE Subject)

LEARNING MODULE 2

Prepared by:

JOMAR MORENO BACANI

Math Instructor, NLAC
 INTRODUCING STATISTICS
What is all about this module?

Overview of the Lesson

As a continuation of contextualizing, we define basic terms in statistics as we continue to explore data. These basic terms
include the universe, variable, population and sample. In detail we will discuss other concepts in relation to variable.

Definition of Basic Terms

The collection of respondents from whom one obtain the data is called the universe of the study. We need to take precaution
that a universe is not necessarily composed of people. Since there are studies where the observations were taken from plants or
animals or even from non-living things like buildings, vehicles, farms,etc. So formally, we define universe as the collection
or set of units or entities from whom we got the data. Thus, this set of units answers the first W’s of data contextualization.

Variable is a characteristic that is observable and measurable in every unit of the universe.

Population is the set of all possible values of a variable.

E. g. Variable(SEX) ; POPULATION(MALE and FEMALE)

Sample is the subgroup of a universe or of a population. There are several ways to take a sample from a universe or a
population and the way we draw the sample dictates the kind of analysis we do with our data.

BROAD CLASSIFICATION OF VARIABLES

Following up with the concept of variable, a variable takes on several values. But occasionally, a variable can only assume one
value, then it is called a constant. For instance, in a class of fifteen-year olds, the age in years of students is constant.

Variables can be broadly classified as either quantitative or qualitative, with the latter further classified into discrete and
continuous types as seen below.

Variables

Qualitative Quantitative

Discrete Continuous
I. Qualitative

These are variables expressed in a categorical attribute, such as sex (male or female), religion, marital status, region of
residence, highest educational attainment, etc. Qualitative variables do not strictly take on numerical values (although we can
have numeric codes for them, example for sex variable, 1 and 2 may refer to male and female, respectively.) It answers the
question “what kind.”

II. Quantitative

This variable is otherwise called numerical data whose sizes are meaningful, answers the questions such as “how much” and
“how many”. Quantitative variables have actual units of measure. Examples of quantitative variables include the height,
weight, number of registered cars, household size, and total household expenditures/income of survey respondents.
Quantitative data may be further classified into:

A. Discrete data are those that can be counted. These data assume only(a finite or infinitely) countable number of values.
B. Continuous data are those that can be measured, ex. Exact height of a survey respondent and the exact volume of
some liquid substance. The possible values are countably infinite.

With this classification, let us then test your understanding by classifying the variables, we had in our last data gathering
activity. Let us classify the variable as to qualitative or quantitative and furthermore as to discrete or continuous.

VARIABLE TYPE OF VARIABLE TYPE OF QUANTITATIVE

VARIABLE
Class Student Number Qualitative
Sex Qualitative
Number of Siblings Quantitative Discrete
Weight (in kilograms) Quantitative Continuous
Height (in centimeters) Quantitative Continuous
Age of Mother Quantitative Discrete
Usual Daily Allowance in School (in pesos) Quantitative Discrete
Usual Daily Food Expenditures in school (in pesos) Quantitative Discrete
Usual Number of Text Messages Sent in a Day Quantitative Discrete
Usual Sleeping Time Qualitative
Most Preferred Color Qualitative
Happiness Index for the Day Qualitative

We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought
experience. - George Washington

***** END OF MODULE 2 *****