CTR 3 – Statistical Analysis with Software Application

I. Topic: Basic Concepts of Statistics

II. Learning Objectives/ Outcomes

At the end of the module, you should be able to
1. define statistics.
2. describe the two main branches of statistics.
3. classify data as qualitative or quantitative.
4. describe the difference between sample and population
5. identify the level of measurement of a data set

CTR 3 Ferdinand T. Pinugu

 III. Pre-Assessment
The following test aims to determine your prior knowledge about the topic. Try to answer the
problems before reading the lesson.

I. Determine whether the statement is true or false. If it is false, rewrite it as a true statement.
1. A statistic is a measure that describes a population characteristic.
2. A sample is a subset of a population.
3. Inferential statistics involves using a population to draw a conclusion about a
corresponding sample.
4. A population is the collection of some outcomes, responses, measurements, or counts
that are of interest.
5. It is impossible for Philippines Statistics Authority to obtain all the census data about the
population of the Philippines.
6. A sample statistic will not change form sample to sample.
7. Data at the ordinal level are quantitative only.
8. For data at the interval level, you cannot calculate meaningful differences between data
entries.
9. More types of calculation can be performed with data at the nominal level than with
data at the interval level.
10. Data at the ratio level cannot be put in order.
II. Determine whether the data set is a population or a sample
1. The number of televisions in each household in the Philippines
2. The final score of each golfer in a tournament
3. The age of every third person entering SM mall
4. The political party of every Philippine president
5. The soil contamination levels at 10 locations near a landfill
III. Tell whether the data are qualitative or quantitative.
1. Telephone numbers in a directory
2. Body temperature of patients
3. Lengths of songs on MP3 player
4. Eye colors of models
5. Species of trees in a forest
6. Wait times at a grocery store
7. Responses on an opinion poll
8. Weights of infants at a hospital
9. Player numbers for a basketball team
10. Student ID numbers
IV. Determine the level of measurement of each data set.
1. Rankings (1st, 2nd, etc) of universities
2. Distances (in km) traveled by students commuting to school
3. Number of students in favor of school uniforms
4. SSS numbers of a group of teachers
5. Sex of users of a website

CTR 3 Ferdinand T. Pinugu

 IV. Lesson Opening
Congratulations! You are about to begin your study of statistics. But why do you have to learn
statistics? Statistics provides you with methods for making better sense of the numbers used every day
to describe or analyze the world we live in. As you progress through the course, you should discover
how to use statistics in your everyday life and in your career. The prerequisite for this course is a little bit
of algebra, an open mind, and, of course, a willingness to study.

V. Guiding Questions
1. What is statistics?
2. What are the two main branches of statistics?
3. What are the different ways of classifying data?
4. Why is sample more often used than a population?
5. What is the difference between a parameter and statistic?

CTR 3 Ferdinand T. Pinugu

 VI. Discussion/Lesson Proper

Basic Vocabulary of Statistics

Definition of Statistics
When you hear the word statistics, what comes probably to your mind are bunch of numbers. But
statistics is not purely about numbers. It is how numbers are transformed into useful information. In a
broader sense, statistics is defined as the art and science of collecting, analyzing, presenting, and
interpreting data.

Types of Statistics
The field of statistics can be subdivided into two areas: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.

Descriptive statistics is what most people think of when they hear the word statistics. It consists of
methods for organizing, displaying, and describing data by using tables, graphs, and summary measures.
The objective is to summarize some of the important features of a set of data.
Inferential statistics consists of methods that the sample results to help make decisions or predictions
about a population. It is concerned with the formulation of conclusions or generalizations about a
population based on an observation or a series of observations of a sample drawn from the population.

Population versus Sample

We will often encounter the terms population and sample as we move on to our future topics.
Consequently, understanding the meaning of each of these two terms and the difference between them
is crucial.

Suppose a statistician is interested in knowing

1. The percentage of all COVID-19 positive cases in Region 2 who are from Isabela
2. The 2019 gross sales of all companies in Cauayan City
3. The prices of all houses in Santiago City
In these examples, the statistician is interested in all COVID-19 positive cases, all companies, and all
houses. Each of these groups is called the population for the respective example.

In statistics, a population does not necessarily mean a collection of people. It can, in fact, be a
collection of people or of any kind of item such as houses, books, television sets, or cars. The
population of interest is usually called the target population.

A population consists of all elements – individuals, items, or objects – whose characteristics are being
studied. The population that is being studied is also called the target population.

Most of the time, decisions are made based on portions of population because it is impossible to
include all members of the population. For example, the election polls conducted to estimate the
percentages of Filipino voters who favor various candidates in presidential elections are based on only a
few hundred or a few thousand voters selected from across the country. In this case, the population
consists of all registered voters in the Philippines. The sample is made up of a few hundred or few
thousand voters who are included in the poll.

A portion of the population selected for study is referred to as a sample.

CTR 3 Ferdinand T. Pinugu

 EXAMPLE 1
Determine whether the data set is a population or a sample.

1. The height of each player on a school’s basketball tea

2. The amount of energy collected from every wind turbine on a wind farm
3. A survey of 500 spectators from a stadium with 45,000 spectators
4. The annual salary of each pharmacist at a pharmacy
5. The cholesterol levels of 20 patients in a hospital with 100 patients.
Solution

Items 1, 2, and 4 are population. Items 3 and 5 are sample.

Parameter versus Statistic

Related to population and sample are the terms parameter and statistic.

A parameter is a numerical measurement describing some characteristic of a population.

EXAMPLE 2
The “average” age of all time of admission for all students who have ever attended our school and the
“proportion” of students who were older than 21 years of age when they entered college are examples
of population parameters. The parameters “average” and “proportion” describes the entire population.

Often a Greek letter is used to symbolize the name of a parameter. For instance, the Greek letters μ,
and σ are the symbols for the parameters mean (or average) and standard deviation, respectively.

For every parameter there is a corresponding sample statistic.

A statistic is a numerical measurement describing some characteristic of a sample.

EXAMPLE 3
The “average” height, found by using the set of 25 heights, is an example of a sample statistic because it
refers to a sample.

Most sample statistics are found with the aid of formulas and are typically assigned symbolic names that
are letters of the English alphabet. For example, for the sample statistics mean and standard deviation
the symbols used are x and s, respectively.

It is important to note that a sample statistic can differ from sample to sample whereas a population is
constant for a population.

Quantitative versus Qualitative Data

Data is a term used to describe information that are derived from some form of measurement
(counting, using a standard scale, sorting into categories, rank ordering, and so on). You can classify data
as either quantitative or qualitative.

Quantitative data are counts or measurements for which representation on a numerical scale is
naturally meaningful.
Qualitative data consists of labels, category names, ratings, rankings, and other classifications for which
representation on a numerical scale is not naturally meaningful.

CTR 3 Ferdinand T. Pinugu

 Distinguishing data as quantitative or qualitative is an important skill in statistics.

EXAMPLE 4
Classify the data as quantitative or qualitative.

1. Daytime temperature readings (in degrees Celsius) in a 30-day period

2. Heights (in centimeters) of plants in a plot of land
3. Satisfaction ratings (on a scale from “not satisfied” to “very satisfied”) by users of a website
4. Number (1, 2, and so on) of people attending a conference
5. Party affiliation of a candidate
Solution

Items 1, 2, and 4 are quantitative while items 3 and 5 are qualitative.

Discrete versus Continuous Data

You can further classify quantitative data as discrete or continuous.

Discrete data are quantitative data that are countable using finite count, such as 0, 1, 2, and so on.
Continuous data are quantitative data that can take on any value within a range of values on a
numerical scale in such a way that there are no gaps, jumps, or other interruptions.

EXAMPLE 5
Classify the data as discrete or continuous.

1. Number of people attending a conference

2. Ages (in years) of participants in a survey
3. Number of male children in a family
4. Heights (in inches) of plants in a plot of land
Solution

1. Discrete, because number of people (0, 1, 2, and so on) is count data.

2. Continuous, because ages can assume any value within a range of values on a numerical scale.
For example, a person could be 5 ½ years old or 45.33 years old.
3. Discrete, because number of male children is count data.
4. Continuous, because heights can assume any value within a range of values on a numerical
scale.

Levels of Measurement

Determining the level of measurement of a set of data is commonly the first step in a statistical process.
The foul levels of measurements are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. These levels are hierarchical,
ranging from the nominal level, the lowest level of measurement, to ration level, the highest level of
measurement – and with higher levels also possessing the characteristics of lower levels.

The nominal level of measurement is characterized by data that consists of names, labels, or
categories only. The data cannot be arranged in an ordering scheme.
Example: gender, civil status, nationality, religion, etc.

CTR 3 Ferdinand T. Pinugu

 The ordinal level of measurement involves data that may be arranged in some order, but
differences between data values either cannot be determined or are meaningless.
Example: good, better or best speakers; 1 star, 2 star, 3 star movie; employee rank

The interval level of measurement is like the ordinal level, with the additional property that
meaningful amounts of differences between data can be determined. However, there are no
inherent (natural) zero starting point.
Example: body temperature, year (1955, 1843, 1776, 1123, etc.)

The ratio level of measurement is the interval modified to include the inherent zero starting
point. For values at this level, differences and ratios are meaningful.
Example: weights of plastic, lengths of movies, distances traveled by cars

CTR 3 Ferdinand T. Pinugu

 VII. Generalization/Summary
After studying the module, I have learned the following:

CTR 3 Ferdinand T. Pinugu

 VIII. Post Assessment
This is the same test in the Pre-assessment. After reading the module, you should now be able
answer the items. You shall submit your answers to these items after one week.
I. Determine whether the statement is true or false. If it is false, rewrite it as a true statement.
1. A statistic is a measure that describes a population characteristic.
2. A sample is a subset of a population.
3. Inferential statistics involves using a population to draw a conclusion about a
corresponding sample.
4. A population is the collection of some outcomes, responses, measurements, or counts
that are of interest.
5. It is impossible for Philippines Statistics Authority to obtain all the census data about the
population of the Philippines.
6. A sample statistic will not change form sample to sample.
7. Data at the ordinal level are quantitative only.
8. For data at the interval level, you cannot calculate meaningful differences between data
entries.
9. More types of calculation can be performed with data at the nominal level than with
data at the interval level.
10. Data at the ratio level cannot be put in order.
II. Determine whether the data set is a population or a sample
1. The number of televisions in each household in the Philippines
2. The final score of each golfer in a tournament
3. The age of every third person entering SM mall
4. The political party of every Philippine president
5. The soil contamination levels at 10 locations near a landfill
III. Tell whether the data are qualitative or quantitative.
1. Telephone numbers in a directory
2. Body temperature of patients
3. Lengths of songs on MP3 player
4. Eye colors of models
5. Species of trees in a forest
6. Wait times at a grocery store
7. Responses on an opinion poll
8. Weights of infants at a hospital
9. Player numbers for a basketball team
10. Student ID numbers
IV. Determine the level of measurement of each data set.
1. Rankings (1st, 2nd, etc) of universities
2. Distances (in km) traveled by students commuting to school
3. Number of students in favor of school uniforms
4. SSS numbers of a group of teachers
5. Sex of users of a website

CTR 3 Ferdinand T. Pinugu

 IX. Feedback
You can write your questions, observations, or recommendations here. Do you have any
questions about the lesson? Do you have any suggestions on how to improve the presentation
of the lesson?

X. References
- Berenson, M. L., et al. Basic Business Statistics: Concepts and Applications, 12th ed. New Jersey,
Prentice Hall, 2012.
- Mann, Prem S. Introductory Statistics, 7th ed. Massachusetts, John Wiley and Sons, 2010.
- Mendenhall, W., et al. Introduction to Probability and Statistics, 13th ed. Brooks/Cole, Cengage
Learning, 2009.

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CTR 3 Ferdinand T. Pinugu