LESSON 1:
Descriptive Statistics
„There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and
statistics.“ (B.Disraeli)
Statistical data
The collection of data that are relevant to the problem
being studied is commonly the most difficult, expensive,
and time-consuming part of the entire research project.
Statistical data are usually obtained by counting or
measuring items.
Primary data are collected specifically for the analysis
desired
Secondary data have already been compiled and are
available for statistical analysis
A variable is an item of interest that can take on many
different numerical values.
A constant has a fixed numerical value.
Why study statistics in
psychology?
Psychologists use statistics to assist them in analyzing data, and also to
give more precise measurements to describe whether something is
statistically significant. Analyzing data using statistics enables researchers
to find patterns, make claims, and share their results with others.
Statistics
The science of collectiong, organizing, presenting,
analyzing, and interpreting data to assist in making
more effective decisions
Statistical analysis – used to manipulate summarize,
and investigate data, so that useful decision-making
information results.
Types of statistics
Descriptive statistics – Methods of organizing,
summarizing, and presenting data in an informative way
Inferential statistics – The methods used to determine
something about a population on the basis of a sample
Population –The entire set of individuals or objects of
interest or the measurements obtained from all individuals
or objects of interest
Sample – A portion, or part, of the population of interest
Inferential Statistics
Estimation
e.g., Estimate the population
mean weight using the sample
mean weight
Hypothesis testing
e.g., Test the claim that the
population mean weight is 70
kg
Inference is the process of drawing conclusions or making decisions about a
population based on sample results
Descriptive Statistics
Collect data
e.g., Survey
Present data
e.g., Tables and graphs
Summarize data
X i
e.g., Sample mean = n
Data
Statistical data are usually obtained by counting or
measuring items. Most data can be put into the
following categories:
Qualitative - data are measurements that each fail into
one of several categories. (hair color, ethnic groups and
other attributes of the population)
quantitative - data are observations that are measured
on a numerical scale (distance traveled to college,
number of children in a family, etc.)
Qualitative data
Qualitative data are generally described by words or
letters. They are not as widely used as quantitative data
because many numerical techniques do not apply to the
qualitative data. For example, it does not make sense
to
find an average hair color or blood type.
Qualitative data can be separated into two subgroups:
dichotomic (if it takes the form of a word with two
options (gender - male or female)
polynomic (if it takes the form of a word with more
than two options (education - primary school,
secondary school and university).
Quantitative data
Quantitative data are always numbers and are
the
result of counting or measuring attributes of a
population.
Quantitative data can be separated into two
subgroups:
discrete (if it is the result of counting (the
number of students of a given ethnic group in
a class, the number of books on a shelf, ...)
continuous (if it is the result of measuring
(distance traveled, weight of luggage, …)
Self-assessment 1
Classify each variable as quantitative or qualitative.
1. the height of giraffe living in India
2. the religious affiliation of the people of Philippines
3. favorite movie
4. the daily intake of proteins
5. nationality
6. the days absent from school
7. marital status
8. the number of houses owned
9. the monthly phone bills
10. the number of students who fail their first statistics
quiz
Types of variables
Variables
Qualitative Quantitative
Dichotomic Polynomic Discrete Continuous
Children in family, Amount of income
Gender, marital Brand of Pc, hair
Strokes on a golf tax paid, weight
status color
hole of a student
Numerical scale of
measurement:
Nominal – consist of categories in each of which the number of
respective observations is recorded. The categories are in no
logical order and have no particular relationship. The categories
are said to be mutually exclusive since an individual, object, or
measurement can be included in only one of them.
Ordinal – contain more information. Consists of distinct categories
in which order is implied. Values in one category are larger or
smaller than values in other categories (e.g. rating-excelent, good,
fair, poor)
Interval – is a set of numerical measurements in which the
distance between numbers is of a known, sonstant size.
Ratio – consists of numerical measurements where the distance
between numbers is of a known, constant size, in addition, there is
a nonarbitrary zero point.
Self-assessment 2
Classify each as nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio-level
data
1. social security number
2. the total annual incomes for a sample of families
3. the ages of students enrolled in a cooking class
4. the rankings of tennis players
5. the salaries of fast-food chain attendants
Self-assessment 3
Classify each variable as discrete or continuous.
1. the number of bread baked each day
2. the air temperature in a city yesterday
3. the income of single parents living in QC
4. the weights of newborn infants
5. the capacity (in liters) of water in a swimming pool
Recommended literature
Jaisingh, L. 2011. Statistics for the Utterly Confused, 2nd Ed.
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.: USA.
Lipschutz, S. 2000. Probability. The McGraw-Hill Companies,
Inc.: USA.
Supe, Arnulfo P. et al. Elementary Statistics. Iligan City: 1999
