Summary of Lecture 1

I. Key statistical concepts

1. What is statistics?
• Statistics is involved with dealing with data and techniques used to
summarize, extract information and analyze data.
2. Population and sample
• Population is the group (set) of all items of interest to a statistics
practitioner.
• Sample is a subset of data drawn from the population.
3. Parameter and statistic
• Parameter is a descriptive measure of a population: population mean,
population variance, population proportion, …
• Statistic is a descriptive measure of a sample: sample mean, sample
variance, sample proportion, …
4. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics
• Descriptive statistics consists of graphical and numerical methods of
organizing, summarizing and presenting data in a convenient and
informative way.
• Inference statistics is the process of making an estimate, prediction, or
decision about a population based on a sample.
5. Variable and values, data
• Variable is a characteristic of a population or sample.
• The values of a variable are the range of its possible values.
• Data are the observed values of a variable.
Example 1.1: A company consists of 20000 employees. A survey of 100
employees was conducted to interview their monthly salary and it is found that
their average monthly salary was 2000$.
• The population of interest is the group of 20000 employees in this company.
• The sample is the set of 100 employees selected from the company to
interview.
 • The average monthly salary of all 20000 employees in this company is a
parameter (unknown quantity)
• The value 2000$ (the average monthly salary of 100 employees
interviewed) is a statistic.
• The monthly salary of employees in the company is a variable
• Data are the set of the observed monthly salaries of 100 employees
interviewed.
II. Types of data
1. Numerical data: observations are real numbers
2. Nominal data: observations are categorical or qualitative
3. Ordinal data: ordinal data appear to be nominal but their values are in
order.
Example 1.2: Information about a magazine’s readers is of interest to both the
publisher and the magazine’s advertisers. A survey of readers asked respondents
to complete the following:
• Age: numerical data
• Gender: nominal data
• Marital status: nominal data
• Number of magazine subscriptions: numerical data
• Annual income: numerical data
• Rate the quality of our magazine (excellent, good, fair, or poor): ordinal data
III. Graphical descriptive techniques for nominal data
1. Frequency distribution table and Relative frequency distribution table
2. Bar chart and pie chart
Example 2.1: We briefly introduced the General Social Survey. In the 2008 survey
respondents were asked the following: “Last week were you working full time, part
time, going to school, keeping house, or what”? The responses were:
1. Working full-time
2. Working part-time
3. Temporarily not working
4. Unemployed, laid off
5. Retired

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6. School
7. Keeping house
8. Other
The first 150 observations are listed here.

The Frequency distribution table and Relative frequency distribution table

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 Bar chart

Pie chart