[...]... (discussed in the next section) Ratio Data Ratio data has all the qualities of interval data (natural order, equal intervals) plus a natural zero point Many physical measurements are ratio data: for instance, height, weight, and age all qualify So does income: you can certainly earn 0 dollars in a year, or have 0 dollars in your bank account With ratio-level data, it is appropriate to multiply and divide as... what is acceptable from a purely mathematical standpoint Continuous and Discrete Data Another distinction often made is that between continuous and discrete data Continuous data can take any value, or any value within a range Most data measured by interval and ratio scales, other than that based on counting, is continuous: for instance, weight, height, distance, and income are all continuous 4 | Chapter... Meaning Mean of a population Standard deviation of a population Variance of a population Proportion of a population Mean of a sample Standard deviation of a sample Variance of a sample Number of cases in a sample Proportion of a sample Kappa (measure of agreement) Chi-squared (statistic, distribution) Summation Factorial Combination Permutation Expected value Observed value Value of variable x for case... place objects into categories (male or female; catcher or first baseman) rather than measuring some intrinsic quality in them Chapter 10 discusses methods of analysis appropriate for this type of data, and many techniques covered in Chapter 11, on nonparametric statistics, are also appropriate for categorical data When data can take on only two values, as in the male/female example, it may also be called... neither a tax auditor nor captain of a sludge barge No, I’m merely a biostatistician and statistics instructor, a revelation which invariably provokes a response such as statistics was my worst class in school” or the sudden inspiration to quote that old chestnut popularized by Mark Twain that there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics Personally, I find statistics fascinating and... during a pregnancy Nominal data is also discrete, as are binary and rank-ordered data Operationalization Beginners to a field often think that the difficulties of research rest primarily in statistical analysis, and focus their efforts on learning mathematical formulas and computer programming techniques in order to carry out statistical calculations However, one major problem in research has very... include calculation of basic probabilities, permutations and combinations, and Bayes’s theorem Chapter 3, Data Management Discusses practical issues in data management, including procedures to troubleshoot an existing file, methods for storing data electronically, data types, and missing data Chapter 4, Descriptive Statistics and Graphics Explains the differences between descriptive and inferential statistics. .. Definition #4 is nearest to my heart, since I chose statistics as my professional field If you are a secondary or post-secondary student you are probably aware of this definition of statistics, as many universities and colleges today either have a separate department of statistics or include statistics as a field of specialization within mathematics Statistics is increasingly taught in high school as... Paul Watters Firstly, I would like to thank the academics who managed to make learning statistics interesting: Professor Rachel Heath (University of Newcastle) and Mr James Alexander (University of Tasmania) An inspirational teacher is a rare and wonderful thing, especially in statistics! Secondly, a big thank you to my colleagues at the School of ITMS at the University of Ballarat, and our partners at... disease, an Internet search will point you to data sources that can be accessed electronically, often directly from your home computer However, data has no meaning in and of itself: it has to be organized and interpreted by human beings So part of participating fully in the Information Age requires becoming fluent in understanding data, including the ways it is collected, analyzed, and interpreted And . appear in this book, and O’Reilly Media, Inc. was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation. what I do for a living. And rest assured that I’m neither a tax auditor nor captain of a sludge barge. No, I’m merely a biostatistician and statistics instructor, a revelation which invariably provokes. fundamental point about the practice of statistics. The concept of using information gained from studying a sample to make statements about a population is the basis of inferential statistics, and