Statistics and Data Corresponds to Chapters 1 & Chapters 2

Statistics—a definition Statistics—the science of conducting studies to collect, organize, analyze, summarize and draw conclusions from data (Bluman, Pg. A-60, 2007). Two major branches of statistics: descriptive & inferential.

Descriptive Statistics--definition Descriptive statistics is the branch of statistics that is concerned with collecting, organizing, summarizing data from samples or a population.

Inferential statistics—a definition Inferential statistics—branch of statics that is concerned with taking a characteristic of a sample to draw conclusions regarding a population.

Data—a definition Data—numbers or information describing some characteristic (of a variable) (Triola, pg. 786, 2004). Course text indicates data reflects a “who, what, where, when, why and how”. Data can be quantitative or qualitative.

Variable—a definition Variable—in algebra, it is a letter or name used to represent a value that can change Variable—in statistics it is a characteristic or attribute of a population that can assume different values

Categorical & Quantitative Categorical data – data that can be placed into a category based on a characteristic or attribute used to describe. (the text uses “dead or alive” to categorize the fate of passengers from the Titanic). Quantitative data—data that is intrinsically numerical in nature (the text uses “weight and neck size” to describe a study of bears captured in the wild).

Quantitative data—can be discrete or continuous Continuous variable—can assume values for all real numbers Discrete variable—can only assume values within fixed or “finite” (countable) limits

A short video http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=descriptive+and+inferential+statistics&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=7A9D7C1485A10D43FB067A9D7C1485A10D43FB06

Activity one Complete the word puzzle on Introduction to Statistics to help you familiarize with the terms.