INTRODUCTION TO

STATISTICS
DESCRIBING DATA

UNIVERSITAS BINA NUSANTARA

SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT

Rinda Nariswari, S.Si., M.Si.
LEARNING OUTCOME

LO1: Describe the basic concepts of descriptive and inferential statistics

SUBTOPICS

1.Types of Data
2.Classification of Variable
3.Measurement Level
4.Population and Sample
TYPES OF DATA
QUALITATIVE VS QUANTITATIVE DATA

• We can describe data as either qualitative or quantitative.

• With qualitative data there is no measurable meaning to the “difference” in numbers. For
example, one football player is assigned the number 7 and another player has the number 10. We
cannot conclude that the first player plays twice as well as the second player.

• However, with quantitative data there is a measurable meaning to the difference in numbers.
When one student scores 90 on an exam and another student scores 45, the difference is measurable
and meaningful.
CLASSIFICATION OF VARIABLE
CATEGORICAL AND NUMERICAL VARIABLES

Categorical variables produce responses that belong to groups or categories.

For example, responses to yes/no questions are categorical.
• Are you a business major?
• Do you own a car? are limited to yes or no answers.
• A health care insurance company may classify incorrect claims according to the type of errors,
such as procedural and diagnostic errors, patient information errors, and contractual errors.
• Questions on gender or marital status.
• A faculty-evaluation form where students are to respond to statements such as the following:
The instructor in this course was an effective teacher (1: strongly disagree; 2: slightly disagree; 3:
neither agree nor disagree; 4: slightly agree; 5: strongly agree).
CATEGORICAL AND NUMERICAL VARIABLES

• Numerical variables include both discrete and continuous variables

• A discrete numerical variable may (but does not necessarily) have a finite number of values.
However, the most common type of discrete numerical variable produces a response that comes from
a counting process.
• Examples of discrete numerical variables are:
 the number of students enrolled in a class
 the number of university credits earned by a student at the end of a particular semester
 the number of Microsoft stocks in an investor’s portfolio.
CATEGORICAL AND NUMERICAL VARIABLES

• Numerical variables include both discrete and continuous variables

• A continuous numerical variable may take on any value within a given range of real numbers and
usually arises from a measurement (not a counting) process.
• Example :
 Someone might say that he is 6 feet (or 72 inches) tall, but his height could actually be 72.1
inches, 71.8 inches, or some other similar number, depending on the accuracy of the instrument
used to measure height.
 The weight of a cereal box
 The time to run a race
 The distance between two cities
 The temperature
MEASUREMENT LEVELS
MEASUREMENT LEVELS

• Qualitative data include nominal and ordinal levels of measurement.

• Quantitative data include interval and ratio levels of measurement.
• Nominal and ordinal levels of measurement refer to data obtained from categorical
questions.
• Interval and ratio levels of measurement refer to data obtained from numerical variables,
and meaning is given to the difference between measurements.
MEASUREMENT LEVELS

• Nominal data are considered the lowest or weakest type of data, since numerical identification is
chosen strictly for convenience and does not imply ranking of responses.
• The values of nominal variables are words that describe the categories or classes of responses.
 The values of the gender variable are male and female
1 = Male; 2 = Female
 The values of Do you own a car? are yes and no.
1 = Yes; 2 = No
MEASUREMENT LEVELS

• Ordinal data indicate the rank ordering of items, and similar to nominal data the values are words
that describe responses. Some examples of ordinal data and possible codes are as follows:
1. Product quality rating (1: poor; 2: average; 3: good)
2. Satisfaction rating with your current Internet provider (1: very dissatisfied; 2: moderately
dissatisfied; 3: no opinion; 4: moderately satisfied; 5: very satisfied)
3. Consumer preference among three different types of soft drink (1: most preferred; 2: second
choice; 3: third choice)
MEASUREMENT LEVELS

• An interval scale indicates rank and distance from an arbitrary zero measured in unit intervals.
That is, data are provided relative to an arbitrarily determined benchmark.
• Temperature is a classic example of this level of measurement, with arbitrarily determined
benchmarks generally based on either Celsius degrees or Fahrenheit
• Suppose that in March 2019, it is 30°C in Pune, India, and only 10°C in Tokyo, Japan. We can
conclude that the difference in temperature is 20°, but we cannot say that it is three times as warm
in Pune as it is in Tokyo.
• The year is another example of an interval level of measurement, with benchmarks based most
commonly on the Gregorian calendar.
MEASUREMENT LEVELS

• Ratio data indicate both rank and distance from a natural zero, with ratios of two measures having
meaning.
• A person who weighs 200 pounds is twice the weight of a person who weighs 100 pounds; a person
who is 40 years old is twice the age of someone who is 20 years old.
POPULATION AND SAMPLE
POPULATION AND SAMPLE

• A population is the complete set of all items that interest an investigator. Population size, N, can be
very large or even infinite.
• A sample is an observed subset (or portion) of a population with sample size given by n.
• Examples of populations include the following:
 All potential buyers of a new product
 All stocks traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE)
 All registered voters in a particular city or country
 All accounts receivable for a corporation
PARAMETER AND STATISTIC

• A parameter is a numerical measure that describes a specific characteristic of a population.

• A statistic is a numerical measure that describes a specific characteristic of a sample.
EXERCISES

1. Residents in one housing development were asked a series of questions by their homeowners’ association.
Identify the type of data for each question.
a. Did you play golf during the last month on the development’s new golf course?
b. How many times have you eaten at the country club restaurant during the last month?
c. Do you own a camper?
d. Rate the new security system for the development (very good, good, poor, or very poor).
EXERCISES

2. The Budapest Airport managers circulated a form to find out passengers’ level of satisfaction with
the lounges and VIP services. The passengers who frequented the lounges and used the services
were asked to indicate how much they spent on such services in a year. They were also asked to
indicate their level of satisfaction on a scale from 1 (very satisfied) to 5 (very dissatisfied). Is a
passenger’s response to each question numerical or categorical? If numerical, is it discrete or
continuous? If categorical, give the level of measurement.
REFERENCES

Chapter 1

Paul Newbold William L.

Carlson Betty M. Thorne.
(2023). Statistics for
Business and Economics.
10. Pearson Education
THANK YOU
INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS
UNIVERSITAS BINA NUSANTARA

December 2023