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Ghamsary Page 1
Elementary Statistics
M. Ghamsary, Ph.D.
Chap 01
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collecting,
organizing,
summarizing,
analyzing data, and
Draw conclusions.
1. Descriptive Statistics
2. Inferential Statistics
Data are the values (measurements or observations) that the variables can assume.
Variables whose values are determined by chance are called random variables.
For example: 12, 13, 69, 98, 78, 87, 36, 54, 68, 36, 63, 85, 79, 75, 32, 16, 57, 58, 34, 91, 74, 83, 92.
1. Descriptive statistics: consists numerical and graphical techniques to summarize and present
the information in the data set.
populations.
Qualitative variables are variables that can be placed into distinct categories, according to
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For example,
Religion
For example,
Height
Discrete variables Assumes a finite number of possible values that can be counted.
For example:
Numbers of telephone calls is made at the switch board of our school every day. {0, 1,
2, 3, 4,}
Continuous variables can assume infinitely many values between any two specific values
such that there would be no gaps.
Height of boys born at UCLA hospital on July 4th
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Levels of Measurement
When we observe and record a variable, it has characteristics that influence the type of statistical
analysis that we can perform on it. These characteristics are referred to as the level of measurement of
the variable. The first step in any statistical analysis is to determine the level of measurement; it tells us
1. Nominal
2. Ordinal
3. Interval
4. Ratio
1. The nominal level of measurement: Refers to data consist of names and/or categories
so that the data cannot be arranged in any specific ordering scheme. The nominal level of measurement
For example:
Sex ( Male, Female)
Race (White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Persian, etc)
Colors of car in the street
Area Code
Zip code
The values of nominal variables cannot be meaningfully:
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2. The ordinal level of measurement classifies data into categories that can be ranked;
but differences between the ranks cannot be determined. The Ordinal variables are used to represent
For example:
Letter Grades such as A, superior; B, good; C, average; D, poor; F, Fail
Class rank,
added or subtracted
multiplied or divided
3. The interval level of measurement is like ordinal, with additional property that
differences between units of data can be defined, but there is no meaningful zero. The Interval variables
represent observations that can be categorized, rank ordered, and have an unit of measure.
An unit of measure implies that the difference between any two successive values is
identical
With an interval scaled variable, the value 0 does not represent the complete absence of the variable.
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added or subtracted
For example:
Temperature, like Fahrenheit as, we know there is no natural 0.
The years
IQ scores
Shoe size
4. The ratio level of measurement is just like the interval measurement, and there exists a
natural zero. In addition, true ratios and differences both exist for the same variable. The Ratio
variables represent observations that can be categorized, rank ordered, have an unit of measure and have
a true zero
The true zero implies that a value of zero represents the complete absence of the variable
added or subtracted
multiplied or divided
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For example:
Weight
Height
Age
Length
Distance
Most students have trouble differentiating between interval and ratio levels of measurement.
Here is a simple test: If one number is twice the other is the quantity being measured also twice the
other quantity?
For example if you have two weights 120 lbs. and 240 lbs. it should be clear that 240
lbs. is twice as heavy as 120 lbs. So weights are an example of a ratio level of
measurement.
However say you have two temperatures 30 degrees and 60 degrees, 60 degrees is not
twice as hot as 30 degrees, so this is an example of an interval level of measurement.
Another test is that in the ratio level of measurement zero means absence of quantity.
If you consider weights, 0 lb. means that you have NO weight (so weight is ratio), while with the
interval level of measurement, such as temperature 0 degrees Fahrenheit does not mean the absence of
heat which is what temperature measures.
Population: consists of all units (subjects, objects, etc) that are being studied.
Sample is a subset of the units of a population.
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Mean x
Variance s2 2
Standard Deviation s
Correlation Coefficient r
Proportion p p
Size n N
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Example1: From a sample of students in your statistics class, you collect the following: the student's
name, gender, SAT score, age, IQ, birth date (BD), and their grade in a freshman level math class.
Use the measurement of Qualitative or Quantitative to answer the following. Which scale of
measurement?
Example2: From a sample of students in your statistics class, you collect the following: the student's
name, gender, SAT score, age, IQ, birth date, and their grade in a freshman level math class. Use the
measurement of Nominal, Ordinal, Interval or Ratio to answer the following. Which scale of
measurement?
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Example3: A researcher is claiming that the average age of women who are graduated from medical
school at Loma Linda Medical School is about 27 years. To test his hypothesis, he randomly selected
200 female doctors who have graduated from LLU medical school.
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Methods of Sampling: There are many method of sampling, but we will describe 5
common and basic method of sampling as follows:
a. Convenience Sampling
c. Systematic Sampling
d. Stratified Sampling
e. Cluster Sampling
respondents are selected because they happen to be in the right place at the right time.
For example:
use of students, and members of social organizations
Each element in the population has a known and equal probability of selection.
Each possible sample of a given size (n) has a known and equal probability of being the
This implies that every element is selected independently of every other element
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Systematic Sampling
The sample is chosen by selecting a random starting point and then picking every ith element in
succession from the sampling frame. For example, there are 1000 elements in the population and a
Stratified Sampling
The strata should be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive in that every population
element should be assigned to one and only one stratum and no population elements should be
omitted.
Next, elements are selected from each stratum by a random procedure, usually SRS.
The elements within a stratum should be as homogeneous as possible, but the elements in different
The stratification variables should also be closely related to the characteristic of interest.
Finally, the variables should decrease the cost of the stratification process by being easy to
In proportionate stratified sampling, the size of the sample drawn from each stratum is
In disproportionate stratified sampling, the size of the sample from each stratum is proportionate
to the relative size of that stratum and to the standard deviation of the distribution of the
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Cluster Sampling
The target population is first divided into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive
subpopulations, or clusters.
Then a random sample of clusters is selected, based on a probability sampling technique such as
SRS.
For each selected cluster, either all the elements are included in the sample (one-stage) or a sample
Elements within a cluster should be as heterogeneous as possible, but clusters themselves should
population.
In probability proportionate to size sampling, the clusters are sampled with probability
proportional to size. In the second stage, the probability of selecting a sampling unit in a selected
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Review of Chapter 01
Determine whether the given values are from a discrete or continuous data set.
1. In a sample data of 100 Pepsis can we find that the average size of Pepsis can was 11.98oz
2. Ina survey of 1,011 adults, it is found that 450 of them have smoked at least once in their life.
3. Ina survey of 3,289 adults, it is found that 45% of them have garden in their homes
or Ratio.
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Identify which of these types of sampling is used: Random (SRS), Systematic, Stratified, Cluster,
or Convenience.
18. An Los Angeles Times reporter gets a reaction to a breaking story by poling people as they pass
the front of the Times building.
20. The Orange County Commissioner of Jurors obtains a list of 55,014 car owners and constructs a
poll of jurors by selecting every 50th name on the list.
21. In a Harris poll of 1,011 adults, the interview subjects were selected by using a computer to
randomly generate telephone numbers that were then called.
22. A Ford Motor Company researcher has partitioned all registered cars into categories of compact,
mid-size, and family-size. He is surveying 75 car owners from each category.
23. Motivated by a student who died from binge drinking, Chico State conducts a study of student
drinking by randomly selecting 10 different classes and interviewing all of the students in each
of those classes.
24. A statistics student obtains height/weight data by interviewing the members of his fraternity.
25. A UCLA researcher surveys all cardiac patients in each of 30 randomly selected hospitals.
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