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⎕ Exercise/Drill ⎕ Art/Drawing ⎕ Pair/Group ⎕ Others, specify___________________________
Drawing out
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MODULE 2: INTRODUCTION TO ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY

QUARTER 1: WEEK 4

Learning Activity No.1: Statistical Tools Used in Science

Learning Target(s):
(1) Define the basic statistical terms commonly used in quantitative analysis.
(2) Perform descriptive statistical computations needed for data analysis and
interpretation; and
(2) Perform analysis and interpretation of quantitative data obtained from laboratory
analysis using lab instruments and techniques

Class Period: 3.0 hours (Asynchronous)

Time of Submission: September 13, 2022
Maximum Number of Points to be Acquired: 35 Points

I. The “Scientific Method”

Most secondary school students are taught about the “Scientific Method” during their general
science classes or for some during their advance research subjects. From these early classes,
students are encouraged to believe that all scientists follow an objective and almost linear process in
their research. The process is generally described as something like this:

 an unusual observation is made

 an explanation is proposed for this observation
 experiments are performed to test the explanation
 after repeated experiments a theory is formed
 experiments are performed to validate the theory
 once validated the theory becomes a new scientific law
 the scientific laws are used to predict new observations
Of course, an unusual observation can be made at any time, particularly when conducting
experiments. Equally, some explanations or theories can arise without observation. So the “Scientific
Method” is really an idealized description of how scientific laws are determined. The “Scientific
Method” does, however, provide insight into how behave scientifically, namely:

 use existing knowledge or theories to make predictions about what will happen before you
make an observation
 a new or unusual observation is made when that observation doesn’t fit the current knowledge
or theories
 propose an explanation for this new or unusual observation (this explanation could simply be
“we observed it wrong”)
 test the explanation through controlled experimentation
 do not make firm conclusions until they have be verified through replication (preferably by
independent researchers)
 once verified, update the current knowledge or theories to incorporate these new or unusual
observations
II. Statistics and Science
Many experiments deal with complex or difficult to measure phenomena. Equally these
experiments use sample data and seek to generalize the results beyond the observations made with
the sample data. As such, determining what a sample set of observations tells us about a proposed
explanation in general requires us to make an inference, or as we statisticians call it, to “Reason With
Uncertainty”. Reasoning with uncertainty is the core of statistical inference and is typically done using
a method called Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST). NHST, in essence, follows these
steps:
1. State what you expect to happen if we assume nothing has changed

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 2. Select the amount evidence required to be obtained in order to reject that assumption (i.e. that
nothing has changed)
3. Using the sample data and an appropriate statistical technique, compute a decision statistic
4. If the decision statistic provides enough evidence, then we reject the assumption that nothing
has changed and conclude that we have a set of sample data that suggests that something
has changed
It is important to recognize that when conducting NHST that it is not a proof or definitive
statement that something or nothing has changed, but rather that it lends weight to one conclusion or
the other. As such, replication IS required in order to make a firm conclusion. From the above
descriptions, you should be able to see that Statistics and the “Scientific Method” are rather similar.
This should not be surprising since statistics itself is a science, the science of uncertainty, and
therefore follows good scientific principles.
III. Task. Terms used in Statistics
Research and provide definition of the following terms used in performing Statistical
computations. Provide a reference list of your sources of answers.

Statistics is a branch of applied mathematics that involves

1. Statistics the collection, description, analysis, and inference of
conclusions from quantitative data. The mathematical
theories behind statistics rely heavily on differential and
integral calculus, linear algebra, and probability theory.
2. Statistic A statistic is a summary or a function of the data that you
can use to come up with some idea of a parameter. 

3. Descriptive Statistics Descriptive statistics mostly focus on the central

tendency, variability, and distribution of sample data.
Central tendency means the estimate of the
characteristics, a typical element of a sample or
population, and includes descriptive statistics such
as mean, median, and mode. Variability refers to a set of
statistics that show how much difference there is among
the elements of a sample or population along the
characteristics measured, and includes metrics such
as range, variance, and standard deviation.

4. Inferential Statistics Inferential statistics are tools that statisticians use to draw
conclusions about the characteristics of a population,
drawn from the characteristics of a sample, and to decide
how certain they can be of the reliability of those
conclusions. Based on the sample size and distribution
statisticians can calculate the probability that statistics,
which measure the central tendency, variability,
distribution, and relationships between characteristics
within a data sample, provide an accurate picture of the
corresponding parameters of the whole population from
which the sample is drawn.

5. Parameter A parameter is a useful component of statistical analysis.

It refers to the characteristics that are used to define a
given population. It is used to describe a specific
characteristic of the entire population. When making an
inference about the population, the parameter is unknown
because it would be impossible to collect information from
every member of the population. Rather, we use a
statistic of a sample picked from the population to derive

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 a conclusion about the parameter.

6. Population (in A population is a whole, it’s every member of a group. A

Statistics) population is the opposite to a sample, which is a fraction
or percentage of a group. Sometimes it’s possible to
survey every member of a group. A classic example is
the Census, where it’s the law that you have to respond.

7. Sample (in Statistics) A sample refers to a smaller, manageable version of a

larger group. It is a subset containing the characteristics
of a larger population. Samples are used in statistical
testing when population sizes are too large for the test to
include all possible members or observations. A sample
should represent the population as a whole and not
reflect any bias toward a specific attribute.
8. Data Data are the actual values of the variable. They may be
numbers or they may be words. Datum is a single value.
9. Probability Probability is a mathematical tool used to study
randomness. It deals with the chance of an event
occurring
10. Qualitative Variables Qualitative variables can be further broken down into
nominal, ordinal, and binary,
11. Quantitative Variables The quantitative variables are one that can measure and
assigned a numerical value. It describes a quantity
instead of a quality.
12. Dependent Variable A dependent variable is a variable whose value will
change depending on the value of another variable,
called the independent variable. In a scientific
experiment, it is the variable being tested, and therefore,
it is called the dependent variable.
13. Moderator Variable A moderating variable, also called a moderator variable or
simply M, changes the strength or direction of an effect
between two variables x and y. In other words, it affects
the relationship between the independent variable or
predictor variable and a dependent variable or criterion
variable.

14. Intervening Variable An intervening variable in statistics and psychology is a

variable that acts as the link between the independent
and dependent variables.

15. Independent Variable The independent variable causes a change in the

intervening variable, which in turn causes a change in the
dependent variable.

16. Constant Factors A quantity which can assume only one value.
17. Control Group A control group is a statistically significant portion of
participants in an experiment that are shielded from
exposure to variables. 

18. Experimental Group An experimental group is a test sample or the group that
receives an experimental procedure. This group is
exposed to changes in the independent variable being
tested. The values of the independent variable and the
impact on the dependent variable are recorded. An
experiment may include multiple experimental groups at
one time.

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19. Mean The mean (average) of a data set is found by adding all
numbers in the data set and then dividing by the number
of values in the set.

20. Median The median is the middle value when a data set is
ordered from least to greatest.

21. Mode The mode is the number that occurs most often in a data
set.

22. Standard Deviation Defined as a number representing how far from the
average each score is.

23. Variance Defined as a number indicating how spread out the data
is.

24. Range Defined as a single number representing the spread of

the data.

25. Confidence Level Confidence level is the percentage of times you expect to
reproduce an estimate between the upper and lower
bounds of the confidence interval, and is set by the alpha
value.
26. Decision Criterion A criterion is set upon which a researcher will decide
whether to retain or reject the value stated in the null
hypothesis.
27. Null Hypothesis Null hypothesis is a type of statistical hypothesis that
proposes that no statistical significance exists in a set of
given observations. Hypothesis testing is used to assess
the credibility of a hypothesis by using sample data.
Sometimes referred to simply as the "null," it is
represented as H0.

28. Alternate Hypothesis The alternative hypothesis is one of two mutually

exclusive hypotheses in a hypothesis test. The alternative
hypothesis states that a population parameter does not
equal a specified value.

29. Statistical Error Error (statistical error) describes the difference between a
value obtained from a data collection process and the
'true' value for the population. The greater the error, the
less representative the data are of the population.

30. Test of Relationship  A test of correlation establishes whether there is a linear

relationship between two different variables. The two
variables are usually designated as Y the dependent,
outcome, or response variable and X the independent,
predictor, or explanatory variable. The correlation
coefficient r has a number of limitations.

31. Test of Difference The test of significance showed that the difference
between the sample mean and the population mean is
statistically significant. A two-sided alternative hypothesis
is used when there is no reason to believe that the
sample mean can only be higher or lower than a given
value.

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 32. Post Hoc Analysis Post hoc (Latin, meaning “after this”) means to analyze
the results of your experimental data. They are often
based on a familywise error rate; the probability of at least
one Type I error in a set (family) of comparisons.

Scoring: 32 Points; Sources of Definitions: 3 points for references of 5 or more

Total: 35 points

Course: SCI 113– Analytical Chemistry

Program of Students: BSED - Sciences
Year Level – Third Year
Instructor: Lemuel M. Sayao, PhD

References
1. Ovens, M.2018. “Statistics and the “Scientific Method”” Retrieved
from https://www.yourstatsguru.com/secrets/scimethod-stats/
Your References Below

1. JIM CHAPPELOW, (2022) Statistics in Math: Definition, Types, and Importance.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/statistics.asp
2. https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-a-statistic-and-Statistics

3. JIM CHAPPELOW, (2022) Statistics in Math: Definition, Types, and Importance.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/statistics.asp

4. JIM CHAPPELOW, (2022) Statistics in Math: Definition, Types, and Importance.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/statistics.asp

5. CFI TEAM, (2022) ParameterCharacteristics that are used to define a given population.

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/other/parameter/ .
6 . Stephanie Glen. "What is a Population in Statistics?" From StatisticsHowTo.com: Elementary
Statistics for the rest of us! https://www.statisticshowto.com/what-is-a-population/
7.  WILL KENTON, (2022) Sample.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sample.asp
8. https://www.texasgateway.org/resource/11-definitions-statistics-probability-and-key-
terms#:~:text=Data%20are%20the%20actual%20values,statistics%20are%20mean%20and
%20proportion.
9. https://www.texasgateway.org/resource/11-definitions-statistics-probability-and-key-
terms#:~:text=Data%20are%20the%20actual%20values,statistics%20are%20mean%20and
%20proportion.
10. Johnson, (2021) Qualitative and Quantitative Variable in Statistics
https://study.com/learn/lesson/qualitative-quantitative-variables-in-statistics.html

11 Johnson, (2021) Qualitative and Quantitative Variable in Statistics.

https://study.com/learn/lesson/qualitative-quantitative-variables-in-statistics.html

12. CFI TEAM, (2022) What is a Dependent Variable?

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/terms/dependent-variable/

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13. Hayes, A.F. (2013) Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A
Regression-Based Approach. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
https://www.statisticshowto.com/moderating-variable/

14. ADMIN,(2021) Intervening Variable https://allthingsstatistics.com/miscellaneous/intervening-

variables/#:~:text=Admin,change%20in%20the%20dependent%20variable.

15. ADMIN,(2021) Intervening Variable https://allthingsstatistics.com/miscellaneous/intervening-

variables/#:~:text=Admin,change%20in%20the%20dependent%20variable.

16. https://www.emathzone.com/tutorials/basic-statistics/some-basic-definitions-in-statistics.html

17. KC Karnes, (2020) What is a Control Group and Why is it Important in Testing?
https://clevertap.com/blog/what-is-a-control-group/#:~:text=A%20control%20group%20is%20a,no
%20effect%20on%20the%20body.
18.  Todd Helmenstine, (2020). The Difference Between Control Group and Experimental Group,
https://www.thoughtco.com/control-and-experimental-group-differences-606113
19. Sal Khan, (2012) Statistics intro: Mean, median, & mode. https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-
sixth-grade-math/cc-6th-data-statistics/mean-and-median/v/statistics-intro-mean-median-and-
mode#:~:text=The%20mean%20(average)%20of%20a,often%20in%20a%20data%20set.
20. Sal Khan, (2012) Statistics intro: Mean, median, & mode. https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-
sixth-grade-math/cc-6th-data-statistics/mean-and-median/v/statistics-intro-mean-median-and-
mode#:~:text=The%20mean%20(average)%20of%20a,often%20in%20a%20data%20set.
21. Sal Khan, (2012) Statistics intro: Mean, median, & mode. https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-
sixth-grade-math/cc-6th-data-statistics/mean-and-median/v/statistics-intro-mean-median-and-
mode#:~:text=The%20mean%20(average)%20of%20a,often%20in%20a%20data%20set.
22. Devin Kowalczyk, (2003-2022), Measures of Variability: Range, Variance & Standard Deviation.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/measures-of-variability-range-variance-standard-deviation.html.
23. Devin Kowalczyk, (2003-2022), Measures of Variability: Range, Variance & Standard Deviation.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/measures-of-variability-range-variance-standard-deviation.html

24. Devin Kowalczyk, (2003-2022), Measures of Variability: Range, Variance & Standard Deviation.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/measures-of-variability-range-variance-standard-deviation.html
25.  Rebecca Bevans, (2020), Understanding Confidence Intervals | Easy Examples & Formulas.
https://www.scribbr.com/statistics/confidence-interval/#:~:text=a%20confidence%20level%3F-,The
%20confidence%20level%20is%20the%20percentage%20of%20times%20you%20expect,a
%20given%20level%20of%20confidence.
26. https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/40007_Chapter8.pdf
27.ADAMHAYES, (2022), Null Hypothesis
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/null_hypothesis.asp
28. Jim Frost,(2020) Alternative hypothesis, https://statisticsbyjim.com/jim_frost/.
29.https://www.google.com/search?
q=statistical+error+in+statistics&oq=Statistical+Error+in+&aqs=chrome.2.0i512j69i57j0i512l3j0i22i30l
3j0i15i22i30j0i22i30.5903j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

30. Richard A. Armstrong, Anthony C. Hilton, (2010)

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470905173.ch15

31. Diana Mindrila, Ph.D.

https://www.westga.edu/academics/research/vrc/assets/docs/tests_of_significance_notes.pdf

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32. Levine, D. (2014). Even You Can Learn Statistics and Analytics: An Easy to Understand Guide to
Statistics and Analytics 3rd Edition. Pearson FT Press. https://www.statisticshowto.com/probability-and-
statistics/statistics-definitions/post-hoc/

*Please edit the number of pages as you write your answers this lesson

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