STATISTICS

 Statistics: Statistics is the branch of mathematics for collecting,

analysing and interpreting data. Statistics can be used to predict the future,
determine the probability that a specific event will happen, or help answer
questions about a survey. Statistics is used in many different fields such as
business, medicine, biology, psychology and social sciences.

 Statistics include several important steps which are :

1. Collection of data.
2. Organization of data.
3. Summarization of data
4. Analysis of data.
5. Drawing of inferences or making decisions and predictions.
 Types of statistics
1) Descriptive statistics: is the branch of statistics that involves the
organization, summarization and display of data.
2) Inferential statistics: is the branch of statistics that involves using a
sample to draw conclusion about a population. A basic tool in the study of
inferential statistics is probability.
 Data: Is the raw material of statistics or numbers obtained or collected
from experiments or surveys. Each number is a datum and the two or more
taken together are data.

 Sources of Data:
1. Routinely kept records. Hospital medical records, for example, contain
immense amounts of information on patients from hospital.
2. Surveys. We may conduct a survey among patients to obtain information
from hospital.
3. Experiments. Frequently the data needed to answer a question are
available only as the result of an experiment.
4. External sources. The data needed to answer a question may already exist
in the form of published reports, commercially available data banks, or the
research literature.

 Variable: Is any characteristics, number, or quantity that can be measured

or counted. A variable may also be called a data item. Age, sex, business
income and expenses, country of birth, capital expenditure, class grades,
eye color and vehicle type are examples of variables. It is called a variable
because the value may vary between data units in a population, and may
change in value over time.
1. Quantitative (Numeric) Variables: A quantitative variable
is one that can be measured in the usual sense. For example,
measurements on the heights of adult males.

 Quantitative variables divided into two types:

A) Discrete variable: A variable whose values are countable is called a

discrete variable. In other words, a discrete variable can assume only
certain values with no intermediate values. Examples on discrete variables
are number of family members, number of pine trees… etc. Notice that the
number of the examples above will be: x= 1, 2, 3 …
B) Continuous variable: A continuous variable can assume the infinitely
many values corresponding to the points on a line interval. Examples on
continuous variable such as height, weight, time, distance, volume … etc.

2. Qualitative (Categorical) Variables: Some characteristics

are not capable of being measured such as blood groups, gender and
estimation of student grades.

 There are two types of qualitative variable:

 A) Nominal variable: is a categorical variable with multiple categories that
cannot be ordered. An examples of a nominal variable are gender: (male,
female), cause of death: (cancer, heart disease, infection, etc.), blood
groups: (O, A, B, and AB).
B) Ordinal variable: have multiple categories that can be ordered. An
example of an ordinal variable is the estimation of the degree of the
students in biostatistics as: “pass”, “good”, “very good” or “excellent”.

 Population: A population or collection of entities may, however, consist

of animals, machines, places, or cells. For our purposes, we define a
population of entities as the largest collection of entities for which we have
an interest at a particular time. For example, we are interested in the
weights of all the children enrolled in a certain county elementary school
system; our population consists of all these weights.

 There are two types of population:

 A. Finite population: this population that individuals are finite in the
number or if population of values consists if a fixed number of these
values, the population said to be finites such as the number of Down
syndrome patients in Kurdistan.
B. Infinite population: this population that individuals are infinite in the
number such as insects and fish.

 Sample: is a part of a population (in some situation a sample may include

the whole of population) usual the intention is to use sample information
make an inference about population. A sample may be also defined simply
as a smallest representative part of a population such as the weights of only
a fraction of school children.
 A random sample: is one in which every member of population has an
equal chance of being selected.
  Experiment: a planned inquiry to obtain new facts or to confirm or deny
the results of previous experiments.

Population Sampling Techniques

 Why we used a sample instead of a whole population?
1. Because it is impossible to test every single individual in the
population.
2. To save time, money and effort while conducting the
research.

Types of Sampling

1. Non-Probability Sampling:

In this type of population sampling, members of the population do not have equal
chance of being selected.
 1. Convenience Sampling
2. Consecutive Sampling
3. Quota Sampling
4. Judgmental Sampling
5. Snowball Sampling

 Convenience Sampling
Convenience sampling is a non-probability sampling technique where
subjects selected because of their convenient accessibility and
proximity to the researcher.
The subjects selected just because they are easiest to recruit for the study and
the researcher did not consider selecting subjects that are representative of the
entire population.
 2. Probability Sampling

In probability sampling, every individual in the population have equal chance of

being selected as a subject for the research.

1. Simple Random Sampling

2. Systematic Sampling
3. Stratified Sampling
4. Cluster Sampling
5. Disproportional Sampling

1. Simple Random Sampling (S.R.S)

Simple random sampling is one of the most popular types of random or
probability sampling. In this technique, each member of the population has
an equal chance of being selected as subject. The entire process of
sampling is done in a single step with each subject selected independently
of the other members of the population.

There are many methods to proceed with simple random sampling. The most
primitive and mechanical would be the lottery method.

2. Systematic Sampling
Systematic sampling is a random sampling technique which is frequently
chosen by researchers for its simplicity and its periodic quality.
The researcher first randomly picks the first item or subject from the population.
Then, the researcher will select each nth subject from the list.

3. Stratified Sampling Method

Stratified sampling is a probability sampling technique wherein the
researcher divides the entire population into different subgroups or strata,
then randomly selects the final subjects proportionally from the different
strata.
Equally important is the fact that the researcher must use simple probability
sampling within the different strata.
The most common strata used in stratified random sampling are age, gender,
socioeconomic status, religion, nationality and educational attainment.
 4. Cluster Sampling
In cluster sampling, instead of selecting all the subjects from the entire
population right off, the researcher takes several steps in gathering his
sample population. First, the researcher selects groups or clusters, and then
from each cluster, the researcher selects the individual subjects by either simple
random or systematic random sampling. The researcher can even opt to include
the entire cluster and not just a subset from it.
The most common cluster used in research is a geographical cluster. For example,
a researcher wants to survey academic performance of high school students in
Spain.
  Sample Size
The sample size of a statistical sample is the number of observations that
constitute it.
Following three criteria need to be specified to determine the appropriate
samples size:
1. The Level of Precision

Also called sampling error, the level of precision, is the range in which the true
value of the population is estimated to be. This range is expressed in percentage
points.
2. The Confidence Level

The confidence interval is the statistical measure of the number of times out of
100 that results can be expected to be within a specified range.
If a confidence interval is 95%, it means 95 out of 100 samples will have the true
population value within range of precision.
3. Degree of Variability

Depending upon the target population and attributes under consideration, the
degree of variability varies considerably. The more heterogeneous a population is,
the larger the sample size is required to get an optimum level of precision.