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OUTLINE FOR DISCUSSION

STATISTICS

DEFINITION OF STATISTICS:

STATISTICS may be defined as the branch of mathematics that deals with systematic method of
collecting, classifying, presenting, analyzing, and interpreting quantitative or numerical data.

DIVISION OF STATISTICS

Statistics may be divided into:

1. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS – which is concerned with the collection, classification and

presentation of data designed to summarize and describe the group characteristics of the data.
Examples are the measures of central tendency or location and measures of variability

2. INFERENTIAL STATISTICS – refers to the drawing of conclusions or judgment about a

population based on a representative sample systematically taken from the same population. Its
aim is to give concise information about large groups of data without dealing with each and
every element of these groups. So that, if the sample taken is small, certain assumptions and
inferences are made based on limited information, and if the sample drawn is large, it may be
treated as equal to that of the whole observation.

STEPS IN A STATISTICAL INQUIRY OR INVESTIGATION:

In a statistical investigation, after the problem has been clearly defined and its objectives been
set-up, 5 basic steps have to be undertaken:

1. Collection of data
2. Processing of data
3. Presentation of data
4. Analysis of data
5. Interpretation of data

DATA COLLECTION AND PRESENTATION

COLLECTION OF DATA:

The data collected must be valid, reliable, relevant and consistent with other information to the
problem at hand. Data collected may be classified as primary or secondary, internal or external.

PRIMARY DATA – Refer to the data obtained directly from an original source by means of
actual observations or by conducting interviews. The direct source could be an individual or
family group, business entities or private and government agencies.

SECONDARY DATA – refer to data or information that come from existing records (published
and/or unpublished) in usable form such as surveys, census, business journals and magazines,
newspapers, commercial publications, and others such as theses and dissertations, and research
papers, etc.

INTERNAL DATA – data taken from the company’s own records of operations such as sales
records, production records, personnel records, etc.

EXTERNAL DATA – data that come from outside sources and not from the company’s own
records.
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METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION:

1. The Interview or Direct Method.

The direct or interview method is a data gathering device wherein the research worker or
interviewer gets the needed data/information from the respondent or interviewee verbally and
directly in a face-to-face contact. One marked advantage of this method is that skillful
interviewer may draw from the interviewee certain types of personal and confidential
information which may not be possible through the other methods of data collection.
2. The Questionnaire or Indirect Method.
The questionnaire is a data – gathering instrument, consisting of a list of well planned written
questions related to particular topic sent by mail to individuals, with space provided for
responses to each question given out to acquire the needed data/information.
3. Registration Method.
Examples of registration method are the records of births, marriages, and deaths at the National
Census and Statistics Office (NSCO). Another example is the registration record of all Filipinos
of voting age at the COMELEC.
4. Observation
Observation as a means of gathering data is employed when certain data of information cannot
be secured adequately or validly through the use of the other methods of data collection except
through the use of observation. Observation must be specific, systematic, quantitative and
expert. Its results must be checked and substantiated.
5. Experimentation

Data and information can also be gathered by means of experimentation.

SOME STATISTICAL TERMS:

POPULATION AND SAMPLE
A POPULATION is a set of data consisting of all conceivable possible observation of a
certain phenomenon. It refers to the totality of the observations. The number of items in a
population may be denoted by capital letter N.
A SAMPLE is a finite number of items selected from a population possessing identical
characteristics with those of the population from which it was taken. A sample or group
samples are used to represent the population when investigation of the population is not
possible. The number of items in a sample is denoted by a small letter n.

VARIABLES AND CONSTANTS, AND VARIATE

A VARIABLE refers to a fundamental quantity which changes in value from one observation to
another within a given domain and under a given set of conditions. For example, the variable
volume takes on several different values of 10, 15 or 20 liters from one observation to another.
Variable may be represented by the letters X, Y, Z, etc.
A variable maybe discrete or continuous, A DISCRETE VARIABLE consists of variates
which do not progress from one value to the next without a break, and may be represented by a
whole number. An example of this is the number of students in a statistics class or the number of
residents in a particular community.
A CONTINUOUS variable on the other hand may progress from one value to the next without
a break and may be represented by a whole number or a fraction. It is a quantity which can assume
any value within a certain range. Examples are age, weight, or volume.
CONSTANTS – refer to fundamental quantities that do not change in value like for example
mass. Your mass at the foot of the mountain is the same as your mass at the top.
After data have been collected, they have to be processed. Processing of data includes editing,
coding and classification. EDITING raw data is necessary to detect errors and omissions, and to
ensure that the data gathered are accurate, consistent with other information, complete, and should
be arranged in such a way as to facilitate coding and classification. CODING means assigning
numerals and other symbols to the data collected to be able to group them into a limited number of
classes or categories. CLASSIFICATION refers to the sorting of the data and grouping them on
the basis of some similarity.

The purpose of classification is to enable us to quickly see all the possible characteristics in the
data collected.

tessarlante@ncshs