1. Statistics and Data
Corresponds to Chapters 1 & Chapters 2

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.

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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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).

8. 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

9. A short video

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