Introduction to

Statistics

Introduction to Statistics
What is it?
The arts of learning from data
A branch of knowledge dealing with organizing and analysis of
data to draw a meaningful conclusion (interpretation)

Two main branches

Descriptive statistics: to describe a collection of data;

Inferential statistics: to draw inferences about the

process or population being studied;

Descriptive Statistics
Sometimes (but rarely) we can enumerate the whole
population If so, we need only use
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS:
Procedures used to summarize and describe the set of
measurements.

Inferential Statistics
When we cannot enumerate the whole population, we
use
INFERENTIAL STATISTICS:
Procedures used to draw conclusions or inferences
about the population from information contained in the
sample.

Probability
Probability is a way of expressing knowledge or belief
that an event will occur or has occurred
How likely is that an event occurs

Patterns in the data may be modeled in a way that

accounts for randomness and uncertainty in the
observations
Probability is the bedrock for statistics

Knowledge on Probability : how

useful is it
Game:
Suppose youre to given three boxes, one contain gold
and the other two are empty. You are asked to pick one
and take with you whatever inside.
After you point to a box, one of the empty box is open.
You then are asked whether you would change your
choice or stick to the original choice.
Would you change your choice?

Why study this?

Very important tool in research
Nothing is certain in the world except its uncertainty
Need to model and interpret events or collection of data which
exhibit randomness

Some notable examples are:

System Performance measurement

Network design
Interpretation of data collected from a survey
Product quality control

Basic Terminologies:
Populations vs Samples
Our interest is information about a total collection of
elements (population)
In most cases, this is far too large to handle
Other case, its simply unrealistic product testing

Need a way of selecting representative subset of a

population
This is called a sample

Sampling must be rigorously designed for it to be the

representative of the population in question
Usually drawn in a totally random fashion

Terminologies more precicely

Variable is a characteristic that changes or varies over
time and/or for different individuals or objects under
consideration
Experimental Units are items or objects on which
measurements are taken
Measurement results when a variable is actually
measured on an experimental unit
Population is the WHOLE set of all possible
measurements
Sample is a subset of population

Examples
Light bulbs

Variable=lifetime Experimental unit = bulb

Typical measurements:
1503.1 hrs, 1010.5 hrs

Examples
Opinion polls
Variable = opinion
Experimental unit = person
Typical Measurements = JKWIN, SBY-Bud, etc.

Examples
Hair color

Variable = Hair color

Experimental unit = Person
Typical Measurements = Brown, black,
blonde

Learn to View Statistics with a

Critical Eye
There are three kinds of lies..
Lies
Damn Lies
Statistics

You need to make statistics work for you, not lie for you!

Scale of Measurement
Nominal Scale
The objects in each category is counted
There is no logical order
Data categories are mutually exclusive: an object can belong
to only one category
Gender, religion, etc???

Ordinal Scale
Mutual exclusive
Have a logical order
Data categories are scaled according to the amount of
particular characteristic they posses
Education level (SD, SMP, SMA, S1, S2, S3)
The letter-grading
system (A, B, C, D, E)

Interval Scale
Mutual exclusive
Have logical order
Data categories are scale according to the amount of
the particular characteristic they possess
Equal differences
The point 0 is just another point on scale (not a starting
point or nothing)
Temperature

Ratio Scale
Mutually exclusive
Have a logical order
Data categories are scaled according to the amount of
the particular characteristic they possess
Equal differences
The point 0 reflect an absence of the characteristic
(nothing, or contain a true zero point)
Weight, Height