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Course Purpose

The purpose of this course is to introduce

AFD 2209 - Biostatistics students to methods of collection, analysis,
interpretation and presentation of statistics

NST 3.2

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Learning Outcomes Course Outline

1. Introduction to statistics
At the end of this course, students should be 2. Presentation of data: bar charts, pie chats, histograms and
able to: frequency, distribution curves,
3. Measures of central tendency: mean and weighted mean,
1. Develop tools for biological data collection, geometric, mean, median and mode,
4. Measures of dispersion and position: range, standard deviation,
2. Describe inferential statistics used in analysis of IQR, SIQR, outliers,
biological data, 5. Probability and probability distributions
6. Probability testing: test of significance (z-test, t-test, f-test),
3. Interpret Biostatistical data confidence intervals, difference between means, univariate and
multivariate analysis,
7. Analysis of variance and covariance (ANOVA & ANCOVA)
8. Parametric and non-parametric tests

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Key Words Introduction - Some Basic concepts

– Statistics , data , Biostatistics, • The word ‘statistics’ means one or more measures
– Variable ,Population ,Sample describing the characteristics of a population,
– Survey • The main question that we attempt to answer using
statistics is that there is a relationship between
variables,
• To demonstrate this relationship we (the
researcher/you) must show that when one variable
changes the other variable changes and that the
amount of change is not by mere chance.

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Introduction - Some Basic concepts

• Statistics — the science of collecting, describing, analyzing,
Introduction - Some Basic concepts
and interpreting data, so that inferences (conclusions Statistics is a field of study concerned with
about a population based on data from merely a sample)
can be made with quantifiable certainty. 1- collection, organization, summarization and
Statistics requires analysis of data.
• defining a population of interest, 2- drawing of inferences about a body of data
• drawing a sample from that population, when only a part of the data is observed.
• measuring something on each member of that sample, Statisticians try to interpret and
• making a conclusion about the population based on the communicate the results to others.
measured quantities and,
• finally, using probability to say something about how sure
you are of your conclusion.
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Introduction - Some Basic concepts Introduction - Some Basic concepts

• The field of statistics exists because it is usually impossible to collect
• STATIC or DATUM means a measured or data from all individuals of interest (population).
counted fact or piece of information stated as a • Our only solution is to collect data from a subset (sample) of the
figure such as height of one person, birth of a individuals of interest, but our real desire is to know the “truth” about
the population.
baby, etc. • Quantities such as means, standard deviations and proportions are all
important values and are called “parameters” when we are talking
about a population. Since we usually cannot get data from the whole
population.
• They are collected from records, experiments
and surveys, in all walks of life: sciences, • When they are calculated from sample data, these quantities are
called “statistics.”
economics, politics, education, industry,
business, administration etc. • A statistic estimates a parameter.

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Roles of Statistics Functions of Statistics

It is virtually impossible to avoid data analysis if we wish to monitor and
improve the quality of products, services and processes in an organization.
1. Statistics plays an important role in almost every field of life and human
activity. It is applicable to a wide variety of disciplines, including natural
and social sciences, government, and business.
2. In business, statistics plays an important role, as it provides the
quantitative basis for arriving at decisions in all matters. Statistics has
proved to be of immense use in physics and chemistry. It has given a new
understanding to the essential qualities of the laws of nature.
3. Statistics plays an important role in psychology and education. In
experimental psychology, whenever a problem has to be studied, it has
to be based on a sample
4. In NST?
From the definition of statistics, the broad functions of statistics are mainly:
• Collection of data: This involves collecting information about a study or
research after one has decided on the kind of study that is needed.
Information can either be collected directly or indirectly. There are many
methods of collecting data which include: questionnaires, interviews,
focus group interviews, observation, case-studies, experiments, diaries etc
• Tabulation and presentations of data1: This is where the information
collected is presented in form of tables and/or graphs. A table is a
systematic arrangement of the data in rows and columns which is easy to
understand and makes data fit for further analysis and drawing
conclusions. A graph or a chart on the other hand is the visual form for
presenting data.
1“Figures won’t lie but liars figure” .All in all ”Statistics is like clay, of which you can make a God or a
devil”

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Aspects of statistics Mistrust and misuse of Statistics

• Analysis of data: This involves processing of the observed
data and transforming it to a form most suitable for decision
making.
• Interpretation of data: This is the process of attaching
physical meaning and giving interpretation to the numerical
results useful in real life. This interpretation must be true in its
meaning and sense. The quality of interpretation depends
more and more on the experience and insight of the person
carrying out the study or research.
• There is a general perception that statistical knowledge is all too
frequently misused either deliberately or often due to lack of
knowledge.
• On the other hand if various studies appear to contradict one
another, then the public may come to distrust such studies.
• Most of the time, samples are used to draw conclusions about the
population. If an experiment or study was done cautiously and
results were interpreted without bias, then the conclusions would
be accurate. However, occasionally the conclusions are inaccurate
or inaccurately portrayed for various reasons.

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Data Sources of Data:

• The raw material of Statistics is data.
• We may define data as figures. Figures result from the process of
counting or from taking a measurement.
• For example:
– When a hospital administrator counts the number of patients
(counting).
– When a nurse weighs a patient (measurement)
– When a student of NST measures the amount of time taken to
carry out a particular experiment (measurement)
We search for suitable data to serve as the raw material for our
investigation. Such data are available from one or more of the
following sources:
1- Routinely kept records.
For example:
- Hospital medical records contain immense amounts of
information on patients.
- Hospital accounting records contain a wealth of data on the
facility’s business activities.
2- External sources.
The data needed to answer a question may already exist in the
form of published reports, commercially available data banks,
or the research literature, i.e. someone else has already asked
the same question.

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Sources of Data:
3- Surveys: Population and sample
The source may be a survey, if the data needed is about answering certain
questions. • In statistics, the collection of all individuals or items under
consideration is called population.
For example:
• It is the largest collection of values of a random variable for which
If the administrator of a clinic wishes to obtain information regarding the mode
we have an interest at a particular time.
of transportation used by patients to visit the clinic, then a survey may be
For example:
conducted among patients to obtain this information.
The weights of all the children enrolled in a certain elementary school.
4- Experiments.
Populations may be finite or infinite.
Frequently the data needed to answer a question are available only as the
• Sample is that part of the population from which information is
result of an experiment. collected. (Weiss, 1999)
For example: For example:
If a nurse wishes to know which of several strategies is best for maximizing
The weights of only a fraction of these students in a class.
patient compliance, she might conduct an experiment in which the different
strategies of motivating compliance are tried with different patients.

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Sources of Bias

• Wrong sample size

• Selection of study participants
• Non-response
• Withdrawal
• Missing data
• Compliance
• Repeated peeks at accumulating data

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Biostatistics…. Role of a Biostatistician

The tools of statistics are employed in many fields:
business, education, psychology, agriculture, economics, … etc.
When the data analyzed are derived from the biological science and medicine, we
When planning a study, a biostatistician would help
use the term biostatistics to distinguish this particular application of statistical in;
tools and concepts.
• Assessing study design intergrity, validity, biases,
Biostatistics: blinding…
• It is the branch of statistics concerned with mathematical facts and – Is it analyzable?
data related to biological events.
• It is the science that helps in managing e.g. medical uncertainties.
• Power and sample size estimation,
Biostatistics covers applications and contributions not only from health, • Randomization schemas,
medicines and, nutrition but also from fields such as genetics, • Analysis plans,
biology, epidemiology, and many others. • Data safety and monitoring,
• It mainly consists of various steps like generation of hypothesis,
– Interim analyses, stopping rules
collection of data, and application of statistical analysis.

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When to choose the statistical test? The three main aspects of statistics:
When to contact a Biostatistician?
Design: designing the process of data collection (Identify population,
what kind and how much data needed, how to collect a sample)

BEFORE data collection, at DESIGN stage Description: the methods of summarizing/describing data.

Inference: infer “general rules” about a population from a sample.

The study design, sample size, and statistical analysis
must be able to properly evaluate the research
hypothesis set forth by the investigator

Then why learn statistics?

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Major branches of statistics

1. Descriptive statistics or exploratory data analysis: defined as
the branch of statistics that describes the contents of data or
makes a picture based on the data.
– summarizes and portrays the characteristics of the contents of a
data set or to identify patterns in a data set.
• Descriptive Statistics
– Descriptive: statistics consists of methods for organizing,
displaying, and describing data by using tables, graphs, and
summary measures.
– Descriptive statistics do not generalize beyond the available data
– Descriptive statistics consist of methods for organizing and
summarizing information (Weiss, 1999).
– Descriptive statistics includes the construction of graphs, charts,
and tables, and the calculation of various descriptive measures
such as averages, measures of variation, and percentiles.

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Major Types of Descriptive Statistics
• Measures of Frequency: Count, Percent, Frequency.
• Measures of Central Tendency : Mean, Median, and Mode,
SD.
• Measures of Dispersion or Variation: Range, Variance,
Standard Deviation.
• Measures of Position : Percentile ,Quartile, Deciles
Descriptive statistics do not generalize beyond the available data
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Major branches of statistics
2. Inferential statistics or confirmatory data analysis: researchers use
statistics to draw conclusions about the world or to test formal
hypotheses.
– The field of statistics, which is relatively young, traces its origins to
questions about games of chance.
– The foundation of statistics rests on the theory of probability, a subject
with origins many centuries ago in the mathematics of gambling.
• Inferential statistics includes methods like point estimation, interval
estimation and hypothesis testing which are all based on probability
theory.
– Inferential statistics generalizes from the sample.
• Hypothesis testing, confidence intervals: t-test, Fisher’s Exact, ANOVA,
survival analysis, – Bayesian approaches
• Making decisions in the face of uncertainty.
• Inferential statistics consist of methods for drawing and measuring
the reliability of conclusions about population based on information
obtained from a sample of the population. (Weiss, 1999)
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Statistics
• Deductive Statistics
– Deduces properties of samples from a complete
knowledge about population characteristics
• Inductive Statistics
– Concerned with using known sample information
to draw conclusions, or make inferences regarding
the unknown population
• Same as inferential statistics
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Descriptive Statistics
• A data set in its original form is usually very large.
Consequently, such a data set is not very helpful in drawing
conclusions or making decisions. It is easier to draw
conclusions from summary tables and diagrams than from the
original version of a data set. So, we reduce data to a
manageable size by constructing tables, drawing graphs, or
calculating summary measures such as averages. The portion
of statistics that helps us do this type of statistical analysis is
called descriptive statistics.
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Inferential Statistics
• •A major portion of statistics deals with making
decisions, inferences, predictions, and forecasts about
populations based on results obtained from samples.
– For example, we may make some decisions about the
political views of all college and university students based
on the political views of 1000 students selected from a few
colleges and universities. The area of statistics that deals
with such decision-making procedures is referred to as
inferential statistics. This branch of statistics is also called
inductive reasoning or inductive statistics.
• Inferential statistics consists of methods that use
sample results to help make decisions or predictions
about a population.
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Inferential statistics
• Generalize from the sample.
• Hypothesis testing, confidence intervals
• – t-test, Fisher’s Exact, ANOVA, survival
analysis, bayesian approaches
• Making decisions in the face of uncertainty
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