BASIC STATISTICS

1.0 An Introduction
1.1 Meaning of Statistics

The word statistics means different things to different people. To a student,

statistics refer to the test results that he obtained for all his subjects. To a guidance
counselor, statistics are IQ scores and other standardized test scores. To a high school
principal, statistics pertain to enrollment figures, reports on absenteeism, and salaries of
teachers. To a basketball enthusiast, statistics are the number of shots, number of free
throws, and number of fouls. To an ordinary person, statistics simply means any set of
quantitative or numerical data.
Statistics refers to the science which deals with the collection, organization,
presentation, analysis, and interpretation of quantitative data.
1.2 Application of Statistics
Statistical methods are indispensable tools in many researchers in education,
psychology, medicine, business, agriculture, and other disciplines. In school, statistics is
applied to formulate policies on admission and readmission of students, to devise a
system of measurement and evaluation, to determine which among several known
methods of instruction is best for certain concepts or skills, and to determine the
relationship between educational performance and socioeconomic status.
In business, statistics is useful in the areas of finance, production, quality control,
promotion and advertising, and marketing. Medical researchers use statistical tools to
evaluate the effectiveness of some medical practices in the prevention of particular
diseases and to test the effectiveness of drugs. Statistics is also vital tool for behavioral
scientists who want to determine the effects of certain treatments or conditions to human
behaviors. For example, what is the effect of anxiety on a specific task performance? Are
the children from small families better achievers than those coming from large families?
Does alcohol affect the productivity of workers? These are but few questions whose
answer may be obtained with the use of statistics.
1.3 Descriptive and Inferential Statistics
Descriptive statistics is concerned with the collection, organization, and
presentation of data in a form that is understandable to all. Thus, the objective of
descriptive statistical analysis is to summarize some of the important features of a set of
data. Construction of tables and graphs, and computation of measures such as averages
and percentages fall within this area of statistics.
Inferential statistics 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 means the complete set of individuals,
objects, places, or events under study. A sample is defined a subset of a population.
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Statistical investigators often do not consider making an exclusive study of an

entire population because of constraints related to cost, the time needed, and the
laborious kind of work required in handling a vast magnitude of data.
1.4 Quantitative and Qualitative Data
In the initial stage of statistical inquiry, the researcher usually defines the
variables relevant to his problem. Any quantity which may take on different values is a
variable; that which does not vary or is fixed is a constant. There are two major
classifications of variables: qualitative and quantitative.
Variables such as sex, color, student classification by year level, religion,
occupation, and level of performance on a job are called qualitative variables.
Information obtained from this type of variables are called qualitative data.
While the data arising from qualitative differ in kind, those obtained from
quantitative variables differ by how much. Specifically, they indicate how much of a
given characteristic an individual, object, or event possesses. Variables like age, monthly
income, size of family, hourly output of a machine, and length of service are quantitative
variables.
There are two kinds of variables: the continuous variable and discontinuous or
discrete variable. A continuous variable is a variable, which may take any value within a
specified range of values that have no break or gap. For example, if we measure the
weight of a baby, no matter what care we exercise in so doing, we will never be able to
determine his exact weight, His weight, for instance may range from 5.999 kg to 5.9998
kg. Variables like height, volume, and age are continuous variables.
A discontinuous or discrete variable, on the other hand, can take specific values
only. It is variable whose values have breaks, gaps, or jumps. For example, if we count
the number of carabaos in a given farm, the possible values that we may get are 0,1,2,3…
1000, etc. the number of carabaos cannot take a value like 25.0973.
In general, measurement gives rise to continuous data, while counting gives rise
to discrete data.
1.5 Measurement Scales
The following are four levels or types of measurement or ways of assigning
numerals to variable:
1. Nominal Measurement. It is merely used to differentiate classes or categories for
purely classification or identification purposes. For instance, the respondents in a
survey may be categorized as males or females. The two groups formed can be
identified by using numbers like 1 for male group and 0 for female group or vice
versa. Since these numbers are merely used for identification purposes, no
meaning can be attached to the magnitude or size of such numbers. The
assignment of these numbers is arbitrary. Other examples of the use of nominal
measurement are the assignment of numbers to basketball players, houses, office
rooms, and telephones.
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2. Ordinal Measurement. Ordinal scales do not only classify but also order classes.
Ordinal measurement which is expressed in ranks is possible if different degrees
of an attribute or property are present. Examples of ordinal measurements are the
ranks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 given by the judges to the five finalists in a beauty contest. With
ordinal measurement, we can talk of “less than” or “greater than” in terms of the
attribute in question; hence we say that ordinal measurement can order classes.

3. Interval Measurement. Interval measurement has the attributes of ordinal

measure plus one more: it can differentiate between any two classes in terms of
degrees of differences. Examples of interval measurements are mental ability
scores, achievement scores, and temperatures in degrees Celsius. With interval
measurements, addition and subtraction have meanings.

4. Ratio Measurement. Ratio measurement differs from interval measurement only

in one aspect: it has a true zero which indicates a total absence of the property
being measured. Examples are length (0 length means no length at all), age, and
number of children in a family. If Michelle is 160 cm tall and Kristine is 80 cm
tall, we can say that Michelle is twice as tall than Kristine. With ratio
measurements, multiplication and division have meanings.

1.6 Basic Mathematical Notations

Some mathematical symbols appear with great regularity in statistics. Among
them are X, Y, n, f, and ∑ . The letters X and Y shall be used to denote variables while n
shall represent the total number of values or scores obtained for a particular variable. The
Greek letter ∑ (read sigma) shall be employed to signify that the sum of the values of the
variable.
n
The symbol ∑X
i =1
i shall mean that we add all values of X from 1 to n.

this notation is read “the summation of all values of X from 1 to n.”

Thus if
5

∑X
i =1
i = X1 + X 2 + X 3 + X 4 + X 5

= 3 + 4 + 7 + 10 + 12
= 36

∑X
i=2
i = X2 + X3 + X4

= 4 + 7 + 10
= 21
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Summation Rules:
The following are some rules governing summation:
RULE 1. The summation of a constant from 1 to n is equal to the product of the constant
and n.
n

∑ c = nc
i =1

Example:
6

∑5 = 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5
i =1

= 6(5)
= 30
RULE 2. The summation of the sum of a variable and a constant is equal to the
summation of the variable plus the product of n and the constant.

n n

∑ ( X i + c ) = ∑ X i + nc
i =1 i =1

Example:
5 5

∑ (Yi + 9) = ∑ Yi + 45
i =1 i =1

RULE 3. The summation of the difference of a variable and a constant is equal to the
summation of the variable minus the product of n and the constant.

n n

∑ ( X i − c ) = ∑ X i − nc
i =1 i =1

Example:
15 15

∑ (Y − 10) = ∑ Y − 150
i =1
i
i =1
i

RULE 4. The summation of the products of a variable and a constant is equal to the
product of the constant and the summation of the variable.
n n

∑ CX i = C ∑ X i
i =1 i =1

Example:
5 5

∑16Y
i =1
i = 16∑ Yi
i =1
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EXERCISES:
A. Which of the following variables are qualitative and which are quantitative?
Among the quantitative variables, which are discrete and which are continuous?
1. Educational attainment
2. Brand of toothpaste
3. ID number
4. Student number
5. IQ score
6. Height of a building
7. Number of years in school
8. Political Affiliation
9. Rank of teachers
10. Speed of cars
11. Place of residence
12. Weight of package
B. Categorize each of the following as either nominal, ordinal, interval or ratio
measurement:
1. first place, second place, third place in a lantern contest
2. metric measurement of distance
3. house numbers
4. zip code numbers
5. physics test scores
6. number of live births in a given month
7. socio-metric status: 1-high, 2 – average, 3- low
8. religious affiliation: 1- Catholic, 2 – non-Catholics
C. Express the following using the summation notation:
1. Y1 + Y2 + Y3 + Y4 + Y5 + Y6 + Y7 + Y8

2. X 12 + X 22 + X 32 + X 42 + X 52

3. ( X 1 + Y1 ) + ( X 2 + Y2 ) + ( X 3 + Y3 ) + ... + ( X 20 + Y20 )
4. ( X 1 − 5) + ( X 2 − 5) + ( X 3 − 5) + ( X 4 − 5)
5. f1 X 1 + f 2 X 2 + f 3 X 3 + f 4 X 4 + f 5 X 5 + f 6 X 6

D. If X 1 = 5, X 2 = 6, X 3 = 9, X 4 = 13, X 5 = 14, and X 6 = 16 , evaluate the following:

5
1. 4. ∑X
i =1
2
i

6 6
2. ∑X
i =3
i 5. ∑ (X
i =1
i + 5)

3.
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Related Video Lesson links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXaJ7sa7q-8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFPGVTThJNk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hzDFkJcROE