Descriptive Statistics

By
BL
 Objective
• At the end of two- hour lecture, the first year
medical students shall be able to:

1.define and enumerate the measure of

central location
2.differentiate the mean, median and mode
3.define measures of spread
4.Define coefficient of variation
 Review
• Variable – A measurement that changes, i.e.
person time and place
• Constant – A measurement that changes
 Variable

Qualitative Quantitative

Categorical Numerical

Discrete Continuous

Whole number Fraction

 Variable

Qualitative Quantitative

Categorical Numerical

Discrete Continuous

Whole number Fraction

 Scale of Measurement
• Nominal – Categorical
• Ordinal – Order, rank
 Variable

Qualitative Quantitative

Categorical Numerical

Discrete Continuous

Whole number Fraction

 Variable

Qualitative Quantitative

Categorical Numerical

Discrete Continuous

Whole number Fraction

 Scale of Measurement
• Nominal – Categorical
• Ordinal – Order, rank
• Interval – Zero is not fixed
• Ratio – Zero is fixed
Q
uestion: How do we describe a quantitative
variable?

A nswer: Use descriptive statistics

-Measure of centrality
-Measure of dispersion
 Measurement of centrality
• Mean
• Median
• Mode
 Mean
• the sum of all the members of the set divided
by the number of items in the set
• Formula:
 Weight

i x

1 25
2 24
25 + 24 + … + 21
3 24 x = ------------------------------------

4 23 9
5 23
6 23
x = 23
7 22
8 22
9 21
 Variable
Weight

25
24
24 50%

23
23 Mean
23
22 50%

22
21
 Variable
70
mean
24
24
23
23
23
22
22
21
 Median
• This measurement cuts the distribution into 2
equal halves
 Variable
Weight

25
24
24 50%
Median
23
23 Mean
23
22 50%

22
21
 Variable
i x
1 25
2 24
3 24
4 23
5 23
6 23
7 22
8 22 Median = average of 5th and 6th observation
9 21
10 20
 Mode
• Definition – the most frequent occurring value
 Variable
Weight

25
24
24 50%
Median
23
23 Mean
23
22 50% Mode
22
21
Comparing Mean and Median
For symmetric distributions,
arithmetic mean is approximately the
same as the median

For positively skewed distributions,

arithmetic mean tends to be larger
than the median

For negatively skewed distributions,

the arithmetic mean tends to be
smaller than the median
Measures of dispersion
 Measure of dispersion
• Range
• Quantiles
• Variance
• Standard deviation
 Range
• Definition = Highest value – lowest value
 Quantiles
• The pth percentile is defined by
 The (k+1)th largest sample point if np/100 is not an
integer (where k is the largest integer less than np/100)
 The average of the (np/100)th and (np/100 +1)th largest
observations if np/100 is an integer.
Sample of birthweights
Quantiles
• n x p/100
• Because 20x.1=2 and 20x.9=18
are integers
• The average of the (np/100)th and
(np/100 +1)th largest observations
if np/100 is an integer.
• 10th percentile is the average of
80%
the 2nd and 3rd largest values
(2581+2759)/2=2670 g
• 90th percentile is the average of
the 18th and 19th largest values
(3609+3649)/2=3629 g
 Variance
• Definition – Variability of individual data
points away from the mean
 Variance
i x
1 25
2 24
3 24
4 23
5 23 4 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4

6 23 S2 =

7 22 8

8 22 S2 = 1.5
9 21
 Standard deviation
• Definition – Square root of variance
Standard deviation
 Coefficient of variation
Defined as 100% × (s/x)
 Coefficient of variation
• Remains the same regardless of units used
• Useful in comparing variability of different
samples with different arithmetic means
• Useful for comparing the reproducibility of
different variables
Q
uestion: How do we describe a qualitative
variable?

A nswer: Use proportion

 Mean

Proportion Variable Median

Mode
Variance
Qualitative Quantitative Standard deviation

Categorical Numerical

Discrete Continuous

Whole number Fraction

Thank you