1. Dr. John P. Abraham Professor University of Texas Pan American
Statistics in Theses
Dr. John P. Abraham
Professor
University of Texas Pan American

2. Describe an egg
Students try to do this

3. Differences in description
Children’s view
Adults’ view
Shopper’s view
Seller’s view
Producer’s view
Chicken’s view
Biologist’s view
Dietician’s view
Chemist’s view

4. Measurements You need to describe using some measurements
Errors in measurements

5. Descriptive statistics
summarizing a collection of data in a clear and understandable way.
Numerical
Graphical

6. Numerical descriptive statistics
Spread
Range
Semi-interquartile range
Std deviation
central tendency
Mean
Median
Mode

7. Inferential Statistics
Infer about a population based on a sample
Infer about the future based on past

8. Hypothesis testing using variables
A variable is characteristic of an object of a study that can be measured.
The measurements will be different for different objects.
Can be quantitative or qualitative
Can be independent or dependent
Continuous or discrete (when we create a 1 to 5 ranking)

9. Necessity for control What is a control group
A control group study uses a control group to compare to an experimental group in a test of a causal hypothesis.
The control and experimental groups must be identical in all relevant ways except for the introduction of a suspected causal agent into the experimental group.
For example, if 'C' causes 'E', when we introduce 'C' into the experimental group but not into the control group, we should find 'E' occurring in the experimental group at a significantly greater rate than in the control group.
Significance is measured by relation to chance: if an event is not likely due to chance, then its occurrence is significant.

10. Double blind study
a control group test where neither the evaluator nor the subject knows which items are controls
A randomized test is one that randomly assigns items to the control and the experimental groups.
The purpose of controls, double-blind, and randomized testing is to reduce error, self-deception and bias.

11. Placebo
Many control group studies use a placebo in control groups to keep the subjects in the dark as to whether they are being given the causal agent that is being tested.
For example, both the control and experimental groups will be given identical looking pills in a study testing the effectiveness of a new drug. Only one pill will contain the agent being tested; the other pill will be a placebo.
In a double-blind study, the evaluator of the results would not know which subjects got the placebo until his or her evaluation of observed results was completed. This is to avoid evaluator bias from influencing observations and measurements.