CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS

What is Statistics?

Process of converting data into useful information

1) Collect

2) Organize

3) Summarize

4) Presentation

5) Intepretation

Types of Statistics

Descriptive Statistics

Inferential Statistics

Traditional approach

Collect -> Interpret data

Prediction/generalization about a population based on sample

Making inferences from data

Types of Variables

Qualitative

Quantitative

when observation fall into separate distinct categories

I.e.

Categorical

Non-numerical

when observations are measurements/numericals

I.e.

Discrete

Continuous

Separated values

Values in range

Scale of Measurement

Ordinal

Interval

Nominal

Ratio

Classify into categories

E.g.

Gender

Race

Religion

Categories that can be ranked

I.e

Education level

Cancer stage

Likert scales

I.e.

Temperature

IQ Scores

I.e.

Weight

Height

Salary

Sources of Data

Primary Data

Secondary Data

Data obtained directly from the respondents

Researcher carried out experiments/surveys

Pro: Accurate, reliable & up-to-date

Con: Time-consuming, costly, manpower

Pro: Save time & effort, cut cost

Con: May not meet objectives

Data obtained from another sources

Data Collection Method

Telephone

Direct Observation

Personal/Face-to-face interview

Questionnaire

Sampling

Method/Techniques

Why need sampling?

When population is large, costly to do research on entire population

So, select a sample to represent the population

Probability sampling

Non-probability sampling

Systematic Random Sampling (SyRS)

Stratified Sampling (SS)

Simple Random Sampling (SRS)

Cluster Sampling (CS)

Judge mantel

Snowball

Convenience

Quota