LESSON 1

Introduction to Statistics
Definition of terms:
Statistics is a branch mathematics that deals with the collection, organization or presentation,
analysis, and interpretation of data. Its fundamental purpose is to describe and draw inferences
about the numerical properties of a population.
Descriptive Statistics is a statistical procedure concerned with

The origin of descriptive

describing the characteristics and properties of a group of persons, places
statistics can be traced to
data collection methods used or things; it is based on easily verifiable facts. It organizes the presentation,
in censuses taken by the
Babylonians and Egyptians description, and interpretation of data gathered. It includes the study of
between 4500 and 3000 BC.
relationships among variables.
In the Roman Empire
between 27 BC to 17 AD
conducted surveys on births
If you have gathered data from a survey and have organized them in
and deaths its citizens, the
number of livestock and the a systematic, easy-to-read manner then you have succeeded in applying the
harvested crops yearly.
basic principles of descriptive statistics.
Luke 2:1-4
In those days a decree went Among the measurements falling under descriptive statistics are the
out from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should
be registered. 2 This was the
measures of central tendency, measures of variability, skewness, kurtosis,
first registration
when[a] Quirinius was minimum, maximum, summation and other items which help in describing
governor of Syria. 3 And all
went to be registered, each to a data set.
his own town. 4 And Joseph
also went up from Galilee, Descriptive statistics answers the questions such as:
from the town of Nazareth, to
Judea, to the city of David,
which is
1. How many students are interested to take online classes?
called Bethlehem, because he
was of the house and lineage 2. What months has the highest and the lowest number of covid-19
of David…
positive?
3. What are the most likable Netflix series according to students?
4. Who performed better in the entrance examination?
5. What proportion of the ULS college students likes online class?
Inferential Statistics is a statistical procedure used to draw inferences for the population on the
basis of the information obtained from the sample. With inferential statistics, you are going to try
to arrive at conclusions extending beyond the data alone. You may use it to make judgments of the
possibility that an observed difference between groups/data is a dependable one or it just happened
due to chance. It is a matter of deciding between reality and coincidence.

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 Inferential statistics can answer questions such as:
1. Is there a significant difference in the academic performance of students enrolled in an online
and modular class?
2. Is there a significant difference between the proportions of students who are interested to take
statistics online and those who are not?
Population – refers to a large collection of objects, places or things.
Parameter – is any numerical value which describes a population.
Example: There are 7, 592 students enrolled in a certain Marian Institution.
N = 7, 592 Parameter (N)

Sample – is a small portion or part of a population; a representative of the population in a research

study.
Statistic – is any numerical value which describes a sample.
Example: Out of the 7, 592 students enrolled in a Marian Institution, 3,568 are Female.

n = 3,568 Statistic (n)

Data - are facts, or a set of

information gathered or
under study. Data

Qualitative Data – are variables

that can be placed into distinct
categories, characteristic or
attributes.
Quantitative Data – are
Quantitative Qualitative
numerical and can be ordered or
ranked.

Discrete Data – assume exact

value and can be obtained
through counting. e.g: number of
students
Continuous Data – assume
infinite values within an interval Discrete Continuous
and obtained through
measurement. e.g: Temperature

Constant – is a characteristic or property of a population or sample which

Researchers are not makes the members similar to each other.
interested in constant Variable – is a characteristic or property of a population or sample which
since they do not
make the subjects of makes the members different from each other.
research different from Dependent Variable – A variable that is affected by another variable.
another. They are
specifically interested Independent Variable – a variable which affects the dependent variable.
in variables

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 Scales of Measurement
1. Nominal level of measurement classifies data into mutually exclusive categories in which no order or
ranking can be imposed on the data. Nominal numbers are just labels. e.g. SSS number
2. Ordinal level of measurement classifies data into categories that can be ranked; however, precise
differences between the ranks do not exist. e.g. size of t-shirt.
3. Interval level of measurement ranks data, and precise differences between units of measure do exist;
however, there is no meaningful zero. e.g. temperature.
4. Ratio level of measurement possesses all the characteristics of interval measurement, and there exists
a true zero. in addition, true ratios exist when the same variable is measured on two different members
of the population. e.g. height

Sampling Techniques
In doing research, if the population is too big a scientific number of samples is acceptable. One way
of getting a number of samples is by using the RAOSOFT survey tool. You can use the raosoft calculator
tool online to compute the desired and substantial sample size. http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html

Note that the “e” is called the margin of error. It is a value which quantifies possible sampling errors.
Usually the margin of error is either 0.01 or 1%, 0.10 or 10 % and 0.05 or 5%. Sampling
error means that the results in the sample differ from those of the target population because
Sampling is the process of the “luck of the draw”.
of selecting samples from
a given population
Since you already know what to use to compute the appropriate sample size, the next
There are two types of is how to select the samples from the population. This is referred to as sampling.
sampling techniques
(1) Probability
Sampling: samples
We will only consider and discuss the probability sampling techniques, these are:
are chosen in such a
way that each Simple random sampling. This is a procedure where a sample is selected in such a way that
member of the every element is as likely to be selected as any other element in the population.
population has an
equal chance of
being selected in the Example: Lottery: this needs a complete list of the population. you write the names or
samples codes of each member and place them in a container, then randomly draw the
(2) Non Probability
Sampling: each desired number of samples. This is easy if the population is small.
member of the
population does not Systematic random sampling. This method is a sampling procedure with a random start.
have a known chance
of being included in
Samples are randomly chosen using the rules set by the researchers. This involves
𝑁
the sample. Hence, choosing the 𝑘 𝑡ℎ member of the population, with 𝑘 = , but there should be a random
personal judgment 𝑛
plays an important start.
role in the selection.
Example: Choose a sample of size 10 from N = 500.
1. Choose a random start, say 10.
500
2. Determine the 𝑘 𝑡ℎ period by 𝑘 = = 50, so every 50th member will be chosen starting from 10
10

So the respondents will be member number 10, 60, 110, 160, 210, 260, 310, 360, 410, 460.

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 Stratified random sampling. This is used when the population can be naturally
classified into groups or strata.
Example: A survey to find out families living in a certain municipality are in favor of
charter change will be conducted. To ensure that all income groups are represented,
respondents will be divided into high-income (Class A), middle (class B) and low-
income (class C) groups. Below is the distribution of income groups.
Strata Number of Families
Class A 1000
Class B 2 500
Class C 1 500
N 5 000
1. Using Raosoft Calculator to find the sample size (n), use 5% margin of error with 50%
response rate, n = 357
2. Use proportional allocation, how many from each group should be taken as sample?
Strata Number of Families Percent Number of
Samples (n)
Class A 1000 1000 (0.2)(357)
= 0.2 = 20%
5000 = 71.4 = 71
Class B 2 500 2500 (0.5)(357)
= 0.5 = 50%
5000 = 178.5 = 179
Class C 1 500 1500 (0.3)(357)
= 0.3 = 30%
5000 = 107.1 = 107
N 5 000 n = 357
So, 71 families should be taken as respondents from Class A, 179 from Class B and 107
from Class C, for a total of 357.
Collecting and Organizing Data in a Table
The study of statistics begins with the collection of data or measurements. Data collected
should be organized systematically for easier and faster interpretation. They may be presented in
any of the following forms:
The textual form can be used if the data to be presented is few.
The tabular and graphical forms are used when more detailed information about the data is
to be presented.
A table is used when you want to present a data in a systematic and organized manner so that
reading and interpretation will be simpler and easier.

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 When a table is used, you must consider the following parts:
1. Table number Table 3
Distribution of students Hogwarts School According to Year Level
2. Table Title
3. Column header Year Level Number of Students
Freshman 350
4. Row classifier Sophomore 300
5. Body of the table Junior 250
Senior 200
6. Source note total 1 100
Source: Hogwarts Registrar
Example 1:
Table 1
Mahusay National High
School Enrolment, SY
2005-2006
Year Level Male Female
First 216 267
Second 197 216
Third 187 227
Fourth 176 215
Total 776 925
You will observe that the table above shows clearly the enrolment data in Mahusay National High
School for the school year 2005-2006.
Another type of tabular presentation is the frequency table also known as a frequency
distribution. It is an arrangement of the data that shows the frequency of occurrence of different
values of the variables.

A frequency table is constructed by listing the measurements from highest to lowest, then
making tally marks to record how often each number occurs. After tallying, count the marks and
record them in the proper column.

Example 2: The scores of 45 students on a 20-point Science quiz are as follows:

17 20 15 18 19 16 11 10 15 16
12 12 13 14 11 10 14 13 12 11
13 15 14 10 15 16 17 17 18 20
20 18 19 19 18 17 16 15 12 12
13 14 15 19 20

Prepare a frequency table for the set of data.

Solution: To prepare a frequency table for the given set of scores, the scores are listed from
highest to lowest, tally marks are made and counted. The counted tally marks will then
be recorded under the column frequency. Notice that every 5 th tally crosses the first
four tallies. This is done to make counting of marks easier especially if the number of
cases is rather big.

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 Score Tallies Frequency
20 //// 4
19 //// 4
18 //// 4
17 //// 4
16 //// 4
15 ////// 6
14 //// 4
13 //// 4
12 ///// 5
11 /// 3
10 /// 3
Total 45
Frequency Distribution Tables

If the number of measures in consideration is rather big, the presentation of data is further
simplified by grouping the measures into class intervals called a frequency distribution.
A frequency distribution is a distribution of the total number of measures or frequencies
over arbitrarily defined categories or classes. The number of measures falling under a class is
called class frequency.

Example 1.
The frequency distribution below shows the scores obtained by 300 students in an English test of
50 items.

Number of
Score Students
45-49 15
40-44 32
35-39 42
30-34 108
25-29 67
20-24 21
15-19 10
10-14 5
Total 300
In the example above, the symbol 45-49 and the other symbols which follow up to 10-14
are called class intervals. The end numbers are called class limits. For instance in the class
interval 45-49, 45 is called the lower limit while 49 is called the upper limit.
Each class interval has also a lower boundary and a higher boundary. For the class interval
45-49, the lower boundary is 44.5 while the higher boundary is 49.5. Hence, for the class interval
45-49, 44.5 – 49.5 are called the class boundaries.

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 The size of the class interval, also called class size is the difference between the upper
boundary and the lower boundary. Hence, the class size in the given example is 5

A class interval has also a midpoint or a class mark. It is obtained by taking half the sum of the
45−49
lower and upper class limit. For instance, the midpoint of the class interval 45-49 is 2 or 47.

Range (R) is the difference of the Highest score (H) and the lowest score (L) in the given
data set.
The following are the suggested steps on how to make a class interval:
1. Determine the desired number of classes (n) (number of rows)
2. Solve for the class width (i)
𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒
𝑖=
𝑛
Start the lowest class interval with the lowest value / score in the given data set. (lowest score
plus i). Continue until the highest value in the distribution is reached

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