RESEARCH 2A K(NMRN)

I N L O S E D O RC A S
Types of statistics
Types of Measurements
TYPES OF STATISTICS
Descriptive statistics
 Are those that provides a summary of a data set.
 Descriptive statistics are used to describe and synthesize data.
 Averages and percentages are examples of descriptive statistics.
EXAMPLES OF DESCRIPTIVE
STATISTICS
Count (frequencies)
Percentages
Mean
Mode
Median
Range
Standard deviation
variance
INFERENTIAL STATISTICS
They use a sample of data taken to describe or make inferences about a population
Examples:
T-test
One way ANOVA
Multi-way ANOVA
Regression
Correlation etc
 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
DESCRIPTIVE AND
INFERENTIAL
Researchers use descriptive to tell us what a data represent while inferential tells us
why the data is so.
E.g: Descriptive tells us ‘how many people have low back pain’
Inferential tells us ‘how low back pain affect their quality of life’
LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT
Scientists have developed a system for classifying measures.
The four levels of measurement are
Nominal
Ordinal
Interval
ratio.
NOMINAL
It is the lowest level of measurement
it involves assigning numbers to classify characteristics into categories.
Examples of variables: gender, blood type, and marital status
CODING NOMINAL
VARIABLES
Gender: it is either male or female.
Assign ‘1’ to male, ‘2’ to female
The numbers assigned in nominal measurement have no quantitative meaning.
If we code males as 1 and females as 2, the number 2 does not mean “more than” 1.
The numbers are merely symbols representing different values of gender. We easily
could use 1 for females and 2 for males.
CODING NOMINAL CONTD
Marital status: single, Married, Separated, Divorced
Assign ‘1’ to single, ‘2’ married, ‘3’ to separated. ‘4’ to divorced
The numbers are of no mathematical value. Just to categorize them
ORDINAL MEASUREMENT
Involves sorting people based on their relative ranking on an attribute.
This measurement level goes beyond categorization: Attributes are ordered
according to some criterion.
Ordinal measurement captures information about not only equivalence, but also
about relative rank.
EXAMPLE: ORDINAL
See this question
Happiness
‘1’ unhappy, ‘2’ indifferent, ‘3’ happy, ‘4’ very happy, ‘5’ extremely happy.
Happiness ranged from unhappy to extremely happy.
In this case, measurement is ordinal.
The numbers signify incremental state of happiness.
INTERVAL MEASUREMENT
Specify rank ordering on an attribute and can assume equivalent distance between
them.
Example:
The Fahrenheit temperature scale is an example: A temperature of 60ºF is 10ºF
warmer than 50ºF. A 10ºF difference similarly separates 40ºF and 30ºF etc.

Problem: No real Zero. You cant say a temp of 30F is twice as cold as 15F.
RATIO MEASUREMENT
Highest measurement level.
Provide information about
 ordering on the critical attribute,
 the intervals between objects,
 and the absolute magnitude of the attribute because they have a rational, meaningful zero
RATIO CONT’D
 Many physical measures provide ratio-level data.
 A person’s weight, for example, is measured on a ratio scale.
 It is meaningful to say that someone who weighs 100kg is twice as heavy as someone who weighs
50kg.
 Because ratio scales have an absolute zero, all arithmetic operations are permissible
NOTE
Variables measured nominally are called categorical data

Variables measured using interval or ratio are called Continuous Variable

COMPARISON OF THE LEVELS
The four levels of measurement form a hierarchy, with ratio scales at the top and
nominal measurement at the base.
Moving from a higher to a lower level of measurement results in an information loss
Lets demonstrate with an example of people’s weight.
People Ratio Interval Ordinal Nominal
Ayo 180 70 6 2
Ade 110 0 1 1
Dorcas 165 55 4 2
Johnson 125 20 3 1
Kolade 175 65 5 2
Catylin 115 5 2 1
TABLE 1 PRESENTS FICTITIOUS DATA FOR
6 PEOPLE.

The second column shows their actual weight in pounds—ratio-level data.

In the third column, ratio data have been converted to interval measures by assigning
a score of 0 to the lightest person (Ade),a score of 5 to the person 5 pounds heavier
than the lightest person (Catlyn),and so on.
In the fourth column: people were rank ordered from the lightest (assigned the score
of 1) to the heaviest (assigned the score of 6), yielding an ordinal measure.
The final column presents nominal measurements in which people were classified as
either heavy or light. The criterion used to categorize people was weight greater than
(2), or less than or equal to,150 pounds. (1).
SIDE NOTE
Don’t be confused!
Read it slowly and carefully
THANK YOU