BIOSTATISTICS AND EPIDEMIOLOGY

▪ Determining the percentage of

Medtech students who are
STATISTICS males
- Science that deals with the collection, ▪ Determining the 25th percentile
organization, analysis, and interpretation of of the weights of preschoolers
numerical data for the purpose of identifying
- An art of summarizing data those who are malnourished
- Tool in decision-making ➢ Inferential Biostatistics
- Method or data o Methods of arriving at conclusions and
- To summarize the data so that non-statistician generalizations about a target
can understand it population based on information from a
- Used for formulation of judgement sample
o Estimation of parameters and
Uses of Statistics hypotheses testing
• Data reduction technique o Two Types of Estimation:
• Tool for analyzing research projects and clinical ▪ Point estimate: exact
trials ▪ Interval estimate: range
• Tool for objective appraisal and evaluation of o Examples:
programs ▪ Determining the trust rating of
government officials from the
• Tool in decision making process and policy
Social Weather Station Survey
making
▪ Determining the predictors of
COVID-19 mortality
BIOSTATISTICS ▪ Determining the mean waiting
- Bio = life time of patients at the FUMC
- Statistics = Science dealing with the collection, based on interviews done on
organization, analysis, and interpretation of sample patients
numerical data ▪ Determining if there is a
- Biostatistics – it is a special branch of statistics difference between prevalence
which deals with quantitative and qualitative of smoking among students in
aspects of vital phenomena public and private high schools
- Application of statistical methods to the life based on results from a school
sciences like biology, medicine, and public survey
health.
TERMINOLOGIES
Uses of Biostatistics
• Population – it is the target group or all members
• Epidemiology (distribution and determinants of of the specified group
health) • Sample – subset of the population
• Demography (size, structure, composition, and • Parameter – measurement of a characteristic of
distribution of the human population) the population
• Health Economics (to know whether the health • Constant – value of characteristics that remain
care system is functioning well and the health the same from person to person, time to time, or
affecting behaviors) place to place
• Genetics (heredity) and Genomics (genes and its • Variable – characteristics that takes on different
function) values and is usually collected in research

Two Branches of Biostatistics

➢ Descriptive Biostatistics
o Methods of summarizing and presenting - Data collection and processing are the major
data activities included in the science of biostatistics
o Computation of measures of central - This is where we collect data and information
tendency and variability needed for the study
o Dispersion and location
o Tabulation and graphical presentation TYPES OF DATA
o Facilitate understanding, analysis, and ➢ According to Source
interpretation of data o Primary Data – obtained firsthand by
o Examples: the investigator
▪ Constructing a statistical table to o Secondary Data – data that are already
show the number of OLFU existing and obtained by other people
students according to degree ➢ According to Functional Relationship
program o Dependent – the result depends on the
▪ Drawing a graph to present the other and could change depending on
number of students given several factors
different types of COVID o Independent – data that can stand alone
vaccines and cannot be changed by other variable
 BIOSTATISTICS AND EPIDEMIOLOGY

CATEGORIES OF DATA - Why do we code?

o To permit rapid storage of data
Types of Variables
o It helps to avoid errors in encoding data
➢ Qualitative o It is necessary to statistical softwares
o categories are simply descriptions or
labels to distinguish one group from
Types of Codes
another
o Examples: gender, height (short, ➢ Field Code – Actual value or information given by
medium, tall), regions in the country the respondent
➢ Quantitative o Examples:
o categories can be measured and ordered ▪ Age (yrs) – 30 years old
according to quantity or amount ▪ Weight (lbs) – 180 lbs
o can be expressed numerically ▪ Height (cm) – 144 cm
o can either be discrete or continuous ➢ Bracket Code – Recorded as range of values
▪ Discrete – whole numbers rather than actual values
▪ Continuous – decimals or o Example: monthly income
fractions, and assume infinity ▪ 1 – less than Php 5,000
and other possible values ▪ 2 – Php 5,000 to Php 10,000
o Examples: height (5’5, 6’2, 5’2) ▪ 3 – Above Php 10,000
➢ Factual Code – Codes are assigned to a list of
categories of a given variable
SCALES OF MEASUREMENTS OF VARIABLES o Example: Civil Status
➢ Nominal ▪ 1 – single
o Simply used as names or identifiers of a ▪ 2 – married
category ▪ 3 – widowed
o Always qualitative ➢ Pattern Code – Applicable for questions with
o Does not represent any amount or multiple responses
quantity o Example: Symptoms of COVID-19
o No meaningful rankings ▪ ☐ Fever
o Example: colors ▪ ☐ Dry cough
➢ Ordinal ▪ ☐ Sore throat
o Represents an ordered series of ▪ ☐ Loss of taste or smell
relationships ▪ ☐ Others: ________
o May be qualitative or quantitative
o Implied ranking system Rules in Code Construction
o Examples: socio-economic status,
severity of disease, grades • Number of codes must be kept to minimum
➢ Interval (preferably <8)
o Does not have a true-zero value starting • Codes should be exhaustive (consider all the
point elements or aspects and is fully comprehensive)
o Always quantitative and mutually exclusive (does not overlap)
o Zero is arbitrary • Adopt coding convention for questions with
o Examples: temperature, IQ similar answers
➢ Ratio
o Modified interval level which includes Coding Manual
zero as a starting point - A document which contains a record of all codes
o Always quantitative assigned to the responses to all questions in the
o Fixed zero point data collection forms
o Examples: age, height, weight, BP - Minimum information that must be included in a
coding manual:
o Variable name
o Variable description
- Systematic procedure to ensure that the o Coding instructions
information/data gathered are complete, VARIABLE VARIABLE CODING TYPE OF
consistent, and suitable for analysis NAME DESCRIPTION INSTRUCTION CODES
Identification Enter as is (number
- Necessary step before data analysis id
number must be unique)
Field Code
- Data Processing Flowchart: Data collection → 1 – rural
com Type of community Factual Code
Data processing (coding, encoding, editing) → 2 – urban
Name of
analysis name
respondent
Enter as is Field Code
1 – male
Gender of
sex 2 – female Factual Code
DATA CODING respondent
9 – no answer
- Conversion of verbal/written information into age Age in years
Enter as is
Field Code
9 – no answer
numbers which can be more easily encoded, 1 – white collar
counted, and tabulated Occupation of 2 – blue collar
occ Factual Code
- Examples: respondent 3 – none
9 – no answer
o “0” for male and “1” for female 1 – with
o “M” for male and “F” for female Family history of 2 – without
fhpn Factual Code
o “1” for agree and “2” for disagree HPN 7 – I don’t know
9 – no answer
 BIOSTATISTICS AND EPIDEMIOLOGY

DATA ENCODING
- Entering the data/responses in a spreadsheet
o MS Excel
o MS Access
o Epi Info

DATA EDITING
- Inspection and correction of any errors or
inconsistencies in the information collected
- Done during data collection, encoding, and
before data analysis
- Free of error before data analysis

Types of Editing
➢ Field Editing
o Reviewing the accomplished data
collection forms
o Decoding of abbreviations or special
symbols
o Making callbacks/messages for
verification/clarification of incomplete
answers
o Done during data collection
➢ Central Editing
o Checking of inconsistencies and
incorrect entries after receiving the
questionnaire from the field
o Checking of encoded data
o Done during encoding and checking of
the data
o Double-checked by the data manager

Importance of Data Editing

• Make corrections as early as possible
• Reduce non-response or incomplete answers
• Eliminate inconsistencies and incorrect info
• Make the entries clear, legible, and
comprehensive
• Prepare data for analysis

What to check when editing data?

• Check for duplicate entries
• Check the totals of each variable if the same as
with the sample size
• For qualitative data, check if categories are
consistent with what is specified in the coding
manual
• For quantitative data, check the minimum and
maximum if they are logical given the possible
values of variable