SBS3013

Biostatistics

Sem 1 2016/2017

Lecture 2: Numerical summary and graphical representation

In this lesson you will learn about how to match numerical summaries of a
distribution to the graphical representation such as dot plot, histogram and
summary statistics.

You may refer the attached lecture notes in the MyGuru announcement or any
other references to answer the following questions.



1. Differentiate between the following pairs of term and give example of each.

a) Statistical and biological populations.
b) Variate and individual
c) Accuracy and precision
d) Class interval and class mark
e) Bar diagram and histogram


2. Group the following 40 measurements of interorbital width of a sample of
domestic pigeons into a frequency distribution and draw its histogram. Data
of the measurement (millimetre) were obtained from Olson and Miller, 1958.


12.2 12.9 11.8 11.9 11.6 11.1 12.3 12.2 11.8 11.8
10.7 11.5 11.3 11.2 11.6 11.9 13.3 11.2 10.5 11.1
12.1 11.9 10.4 10.7 10.8 11.0 11.9 10.2 10.9 11.6
10.8 11.6 10.4 10.7 12.0 12.4 11.7 11.8 11.3 11.1


i.
Find the mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation for the above
data.

ii.
Group the data into ten classes, recompute the mean, standard deviation
and compare them with results in i. Compute the median of these
ungroup data.

SBS3013 Biostatistics

Sem 1 2016/2017

3. Below is a data set of the ages (in years) of 43 participants in recent local 5-
kilometer race.

20
45
32
51
57

i.

30
18
32
61
26

30
43
31
50
29

35
23
32
34
49
38

36
47
36
34
41
30

34
27
74
34
36
30

38
21
41
35
37

46
30
41
28
41

Calculate the summary statistics of this data (quartile, median, mean,
median absolute deviation (MAD))

ii.

From the histogram and dot plot (Figure 1) of the age data above,
answer and justify your answer of the following questions:

Frequency

Ages

Ages (years)

Figure 1
a) Based on the histogram, would you describe the shape of the data
distribution as approximately symmetric or as skewed?

SBS3013 Biostatistics

b)
c)

d)

e)

f)

g)

h)

Sem 1 2016/2017

Would you have reached this same conclusion looking at the dot plot?

Is it easier to see the shape of the data distribution from the histogram or
the dot plot?

What is something you can see in the plot that is not easy to see in the
histogram?

Do the dot plot and the histogram seem to be centred in about the same
place?

Do both the dot plot and the histogram convey information about the
variability in the age distribution?

If you did not have the original data set and only had the dot plot and the
histogram, would you be able to find the value of the median age from the
dot plot?

Explain why you would only be able to estimate the value of the median if
you only had a histogram of the data.

Suppose that a newspaper article was written about the race and the
histogram of the ages from the above data set was shown in an article.
The writer stated, The race attracted many older runner this year; the
median age was 45. Explain how we would know that this is an incorrect
statement based on just the histogram (Figure 2) presented in the article.

Frequency

i)

Ages (years)

Figure 2

SBS3013 Biostatistics

Sem 1 2016/2017

j) One of the histogram in Figure 3 is another valid histogram for the

runners ages. Select the correct histogram and explain how you
determined which graph is valid (and which one is incorrect) based on
the summary measures and dot plot in Figure 1.

B

Frequency

Frequency

Ages (years)

Ages (years)

Figure 3