INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS

Conceptual Notes
First Quarter
“The nature and probability of Statistics”
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Statistics is the science of conducting studies to collect, organize, summarize, analyze, and draw conclusions from
data in order to provide answers or solutions to an inquiry. One also needs to interpret and communicate the results
of the methods identified above to support a decision that one makes when faced with a problem or an inquiry.

Data is a collection of facts from experiments, observations, sample surveys and censuses, and administrative
reporting systems that the variables can assume. It is either numeric or non – numeric and must be contextualized.

A variable is a characteristic or feature that varies, or changes within a study. The opposite of variable is constant:
something that doesn't change. In math, the symbols "x", "y" or "b" represent variables in an equation, while "pi" is a
constant.

A population consists of all subjects (human or otherwise) that are being studied.

A sample is a group of subjects selected from a population.

TWO BRANCHES OF STATISTICS

1. Descriptive Statistics - consists of the collection, organization, summarization, and presentation of data. It is
broken down into measures of central tendency and measures of variability (spread). In here, the statistician
tries to describe a situation. Data can be summarized and represented in an accurate way using charts,
tables and graphs.
2. Inferential Statistics - consists of generalizing from samples to populations, performing estimations and
hypothesis tests, determining relationships among variables, and making predictions.

TYPES OF VARIABLE

1. Qualitative variables
- are variables that can be placed into distinct categories, according to some characteristic or attribute. For
example, if subjects are classified according to gender (male or female), then the variable gender is
qualitative. Qualitative data answer questions “what kind.”
2. Quantitative variables
-are numerical and can be ordered or ranked. For example, the variable age is numerical, and people can be
ranked in order according to the value of their ages. It answers questions such as “how much” or “how
many”.
Quantitative data may be further classified into:
a. Discrete variables
assume values that can be counted, e.g., the number of days for cellphones to fail, the ages of survey
respondents measured to the nearest year, and the number of patients in a hospital.
b. Continuous variables
can assume an infinite number of values between any two specific values. They are obtained by
measuring. They often include fractions and decimals, e.g. the exact height of a survey respondent and
the exact volume of some liquid substance.
INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS
Conceptual Notes
First Quarter
“The nature and probability of Statistics”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

LEVELS
OF

MEASUREMENT

SAMPLING TECHNIQUES