Introduction to

Biostatistics
By
Kamran Hanif
 Introduction
Some Basic concepts
Statistics is a field of study concerned with
1- collection, organization, summarization and
analysis of data.
2- drawing of inferences about a body of data
when only a part of the data is observed.
Statisticians try to interpret and
communicate the results to others.

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 * Biostatistics:

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 use the term biostatistics to distinguish this
particular application of statistical tools and
concepts.

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 • Descriptive statistics are
methods for organizing and
summarizing data.
• For example, tables or graphs are
used to organize data, and
Descriptive descriptive values such as the
average score are used to
Statistics summarize data.
• A descriptive value for a
population is called a parameter
and a descriptive value for a
sample is called a statistic.

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 Inferential
Statistics
Inferential statistics are methods for using
sample data to make general conclusions
(inferences) about populations.

Because a sample is typically only a part of

the whole population, sample data provide
only limited information about the
population. As a result, sample statistics are
generally imperfect representatives of the
corresponding population parameters.

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Population versus Sample

Population means an aggregate of individuals having a

particular characteristic. In
medical science it is generally human population but it
may be a population of patients.

The group of all patients in any hospital is known as a

population of patients of that
hospital.

Population of smokers,

population of cancer patients, etc. are some examples

of population.
Target Population
• In medical science we sometimes
consider a target population about
which inferences are to be drawn.
• Generally, population is of two types viz.
Finite and Infinite population.
• A population is said to be finite if one
can count individuals, otherwise, it is
known as an infinite population.
• In statistics, if the number of individuals
in a population is countable, it is known
as a finite population and if it is not,
then it is treated as infinite population
 Sample

A sample is defined as a
representative part of any
population.

Sample is considered to be large if

the number of individuals in the
sample is 30 or more, otherwise it
is considered as a small sample
Parameter versus Statistic

Parameter is a value (known or

unknown) concerning some
characteristic of a population.

For example, average age of patients in

a certain hospital admitted at a certain
time is a parameter. It is a fixed quantity
and always to be estimated.

Statistic is a value concerning some

characteristic of a sample. For example,
sample average can be defined as a
statistic.
 • A variable is a characteristic of
an individual which takes
different values at different
situations i.e.
• Age
Variable • height
• weight of patients
• level of education
• martial status
• pulmonary blood flow (PBF)
• pulmonary blood volume (PBV)
 • A categorical variable is one for which the
observations recorded result in a set of categories.
• For example, gender is a categorical variable as it falls
into two categories only such as
• male
• female.

Categorical • Recovery from disease is a categorical variable as it

may be recorded into three categories as,
Variable •
•
not recovered,
partially recovered or
• completely recovered.
• Similarly level of education is a categorical variable.
Categorical variable is often referred to as a
qualitative variable.
 Numerical Variable
(Quantitative Variable)

A numerical variable is one for which

the observations are recorded in
numerical values
such as, age, height, etc.

It has further two types viz. discrete and

continuous.

A numerical variable is often referred to

as a quantitative variable.
 • A variable that is capable of
taking a set of discrete numerical
values such as 10, 15,
1, 199, etc. but not every
possible value between two
given numbers, is termed as
discrete variable.
Discrete • The number of heart beats in a
fixed time period
Variable • Number of successful operations
in a hospital
• Number of cases reported at a
casualty ward of a
certain hospital
Continuous Variable

A variable, which is capable of taking every

possible value between two given number
is termed as a continuous variable.

Age

Weight

length
 • Variables can further be divided into
• dependent (response) and an independent
(predictor
Dependent or explanatory) variable.
• Some examples of dependent and independent
and variables are as
follows:
Independent a. In a study of a prevalence of a disease in
different age groups, the presence of the disease
may be referred to as a dependent variable,
Variables whereas age is an independent variable.
b. In the study of the effect of smoking on lungs,
smoking is an independent variable; where as
effect of smoking on the lungs is a dependent
variable.
c. In a study of an association between Age and
blood pressure. Age is an independent Variable
and Blood pressure is dependent
 • The types of measurements are usually
called measurement scales which are
Measurement • (i) the nominal scale,
Scales • (ii) the ordinal scale,
• (iii) the interval scale and
• (iv) the ratio scale.
 • The scales are of two categories
such as:
Category A. Category A includes
qualitative scale. This category has
two types of scales viz. the
Categories nominal scale and the ordinal
scale.
of Scales Category B. Category B includes
numerical scales. This category
comprises interval and ratio
scales.
 Qualitative Scale
(a) The Nominal Scale
A scale is called a nominal scale if numbers assigned to
Nominal the categories of observations serve only as a name for
the category to which the observation belongs.

Scale This scale of measurement uses number merely as

means of separating the properties into different
categories or classes.

The categories of the nominal scale must be exhaustive

and mutually exclusive such as each measurement must
fall into only one category.
 The classifications could be according to color,

blue

Nominal yellow

Scale red
Gender

male

female.
• blood group is recorded as
•A
•B
• AB
• O.
• These measurements fall into different categories, which do not possess any
order and, therefore, are measured on nominal scale.
• Some other examples of nominal scale are; race, eye color, occupation, religion, etc.
 A scale is called an ordinal
This refers to measurements
scale, if the measurements
where only the comparison,
taken on a variable result
like greater, less or equal
into different categories and
among measurements are
The placed in some natural
order.
relevant.

Ordinal
Scale Examples Intelligence

Students Grades
 • smoking habit is placed in order of
intensity as
• non-smoking

Ordinal •
•
•
moderate smoking
heavy smoking
cancer patients can be categorized to

Scale •
•
be in
Initial stage
moderate stage
• advanced stage.

(Examples) • social class (upper, middle, lower);

opinion (strongly disagree, disagree,
agree, strongly agree)
Numerical Scale

• If the measurements taken

on a variable give rise to
numerical values then such
a scale is
• called numerical scale.
• Numerical scales are of two
types:
• (a) an interval scale,
• (b) the ratio scale
 • This scale considers as pertinent
information not only the relative
order of the measurements as in the
ordinal scale but also the size of the
interval between measurements,
An Interval that is the size of the difference (in a
subtraction sense) between two
measurements.

Scale • We know, for example, that the

difference between measurement of
10 and a measurement of 20 is equal
to the difference between
measurements of 20 and 30.
 • Temperature has been measured quite
adequately for some time by both the
Fahrenheit and Centigrade scales, which
have different origin and scale.
• The principle of interval measurement is
not violated by a change in scale or
location or both.
Interval • In simple words we can say that an
interval scale may have an arbitrary zero
Scale •
unit, for example,
temperature measured on a Celsius
scale is an interval scale as 25 °C = 72 F
and 50 °C = 112 F but the intervals of
Celsius scale and Fahrenheit scale are
not equal,
• e.g. [25 , 50]  [72 , 112].
 The Ratio Scale
• Unlike, the interval scale, the ratio scale has
an absolute zero point, for example
• weight
• The ratio scale of measurement is used when
the order and interval size are important, and
the ratio between two measurements is
meaningful.
• The ratio scale is appropriate for measuring
crop yields, distances, weights, heights,
income, length, time, mass, volume
 • An observation recorded or
measurement taken in a planned
study with some objectives
• in mind may result in a letter like
Types of • "A" type blood
• number like "120 mmHg" blood
Statistical pressure.
Data • A collection of such observations
may be termed as data or
statistical data.
• Data may be classified into two
types, viz. Qualitative Data
• Quantitative Data.
 • When a population is classified into
several categories, it is possible to
count the number of individuals in
each category. These counts are the
qualitative data.
• A diagnostic test for pregnancy
Qualitative gives either positive (+) or negative
Data (-) result.
• Colour of hair,
• colour of eyes,
• gender,
• non-resident,
• vaccinated or not,
• blood types,
• Questions