Chapter1TheRoleofStatisticsandtheDataAnalysisProcess Statistics TheScientificdisciplinethatprovidesmethodstohelpusmakesenseofdata. Itisaformalprocess ofmakingdecisionsbasedon collecting,analyzing,anddrawingconclusionsfrom data whichuses soundprocessesandscientifictools.Statisticsisusedinbusiness,medicine,agriculture,social sciences,naturalsciences,andappliedsciences. StatisticalLiteracyAfamiliaritywiththegoalsandmethodofstatisticsthatteachesushowtomake intelligentjudgmentsandinformeddecisionsinthepresenceofuncertaintyandvariation. ThreeReasonstoStudyStatistics: 1) Tobeinformed. a. Beabletoextractinformationfromtables,charts,andgraphs.

b. Beabletofollownumericalarguments. c. Understandthebasicsofhowdatashouldbegathered,summarized,andanalyzed. 2) Tounderstandissuesandbeabletomakesounddecisionsbasedondata. a. Decidewhetherexistinginformationisadequateorwhetheradditionalinformationisrequired. b. Ifnecessary,collectmoreinformationinareasonableandthoughtfulway. c. Summarizetheavailabledatainausefulandinformativemanner. d. Analyzetheavailabledata. e. Drawconclusions,makedecisions,andassesstheriskofanincorrectdecision. 3) Tobeabletoevaluatedecisionswhichaffectyourlife. TwobranchesofStatistics: DescriptiveStatisticsMethodsfororganizingandsummarizingdata(suchastables,graphs,andnumerical summaries)whichprovideincreasedunderstandingandaneffectivewaytopresentdata. Oneoftheprimaryusesofdescriptivestatisticsistoincreaseourunderstandingofthenatureof variabilityinapopulation. Theabilitytorecognizeunusualvaluesinthepresenceofvariabilityisthekeytomoststatistical proceduresandiswhatenablesustoquantifythechanceofbeingincorrectwhenaconclusionis basedonsampledata. InferentialStatisticsGeneralizingfromasampletothepopulationfromwhichitwasselectedandassessing thereliabilityofsuchgeneralizations. PopulationTheentirecollectionofindividualsorobjectsaboutwhichinformationisdesired. SampleAsubsetofthepopulationselectedforstudyinsomeprescribedmanner. Variableanycharacteristicwhosevaluemaychangefromoneindividualorobjecttoanother. TheDataAnalysisProcess Twoimportantaspects:thecollectionofdataandtheanalysisofthedata.Bothmustbedonecorrectlytohave validconclusions. 1. 2. Understandingthenatureoftheproblem. Whatisthegoaloftheresearchandwhatquestionsdowehopetoanswer. Decidingwhattomeasureandhowtomeasureit. Carefullydefinethevariablestobestudiedanddevelopappropriatemethodsfordetermining theirvalues.

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Datacollection. Isthedatasourceadequateor mustnewdatabecollected?Acarefulplanmustbedevelopedfor collectingdata,becausethetypeofanalysisthatisappropriateandthesubsequentconclusions thatcanbedrawndependonhowthedataarecollected. Datasummarizationandpreliminaryanalysis. Summarizethedatanumericallyandgraphically. Formaldataanalysis. Selectandapplytheappropriateinferentialstatisticalmethods. Interpretationofresults. Whatconclusionscanbedrawn?Howdotheresultsinformusabouttheproblem?Howcanthey guidefutureresearch?

TypesofDataSets UnivariateDataAdatasetconsistingofobservationsonasingleattribute(orvariable.) MultivariateDataAdatasetconsistingofobservationsontwoormoreattributes(orvariables.) BivariateData Adatasetconsistingofobservationson twoattributes.(SpecialcaseofMultivariateData) TypesofData CategoricalorQualitativeWhentheindividualresponsesarecategorical. (i.e.types,yes/no,colors,etc.) FrequencyDistributionAtablethatdisplaysthepossiblecategoriesalongwiththeassociated frequenciesand/orrelativefrequencies. Relativefrequency= frequency #ofobservations BarChartGraphofthefrequencydistributionsofcategoricaldata. Horizontal AxisCategorynamesandlabelsatregularlyspacedintervals. VerticalAxisScaledrangethatincludesthefrequenciesorrelativefrequencies. Besuretoincludeatitle. NumericalorQuantitative Whentheindividualresponsesarenumbers. Discrete Whenthepossiblevaluescorrespondtoisolatedpointsonthenumberline. Continuous Whenthepossiblevaluesform anentireintervalonthenumberline. DotplotGraphofnumericaldatausedwhenthedatasetisreasonablysmall. HorizontalAxisAppropriatemeasurementscaledrangethatincludesallofthevalues. Eachvalueinthedataisrepresentedbyadotandifthesamevalueoccursmorethanonce,the additionaldotsarestackedvertically. Besuretoincludeatitle.