DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
Dr. Telia Avendano Posecion
September 15, 2015 (10:00AM-12:00 PM)
SUMMARY/OUTLINE
I.
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Data Analysis
Process of summarizing trends and patterns observed in the data
Determine major differentials or relationships among variables used in the study
Application of appropriate statistical tests on a set of data to answer the objectives
of a study
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pro RH
Bill
38
24
62
anti RH
Bill
12
26
38
Total
50
50
100
Examples:
1. Bar Graph (Used if data is discrete/nominal with categories)
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a graphical device for understanding the shapes of distributions. They serve the same purpose as histograms,
but are especially helpful for comparing sets of data. Frequency polygons are also a good choice for
displaying cumulative frequency distributions.
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C. Summary statistics
Measures of Central Tendency
- Mean, Median, Mode
Measures of Variability
- Range, Variance, Standard Deviation,
- Coefficient of Variability
Measures of Location
- Percentile , decile, quartile
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
1. Mean
Most commonly used measure of central tendency unless distribution is skewed
The average
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Distributions
Symmetric / normal
Bell shaped curve
Most participants are near the middle of the distribution
Location of the measures of central tendency for a symmetric distribution
Positively skewed
Direction is indicated by the tail (skewedness depends on the tail)
Most of the scores pile up near the bottom
Skewed to the right
Negatively skewed
- Most of the scores pile up near the high or positive side
- skewed to the left (clue is to look at the mean, it is to the left of the median)
MEASURES OF VARIABILITY
Highest minus lowest
One of the most important concepts in research
Measures of variability measure the spread or degree of variability present in the
distribution while central tendency give information only as to the tendency of the
values to clump together
Natural variability among participants or samples often can mask the effects of
variables under study
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Range
Simplest measure of variability
Difference between the highest and the lowest value/score
Too unstable because it depends on only two scores
A single deviant score can dramatically affect the range of scores
2. Variance
A measure of variability is better than range since it utilizes all the scores in
quantifying the degree of variability in the data
Has statistical properties that make it useful in influential statistics
It answers the question on average, how much do the scores in the sample differ
from the mean of the sample
Takes the mean as the reference point
Takes into account the deviation of each individual observation from the mean
It is the average of the squared deviations from the mean
Another definition of mean is the score around which the sum of the deviations
equals zero.
The more variability in a group, the higher the value of the variance; the more
homogenous the group, the lower the variance
3.
Standard Deviation
Square root of the variance
Transforms the variance back into the same units as the original scores
For ungrouped data:
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MEASURES OF LOCATION
Percentile is one of the 99 values of a variable which divides the distribution into
100 equal parts
Decile is one of 9 values of a variable which divides the distribution into 10 equal
parts
Quartile is one of the 3 values of a variable which divides the distribution into 4
equal parts
Percentile
Most frequent type of measure used to report the results of standardized tests,
anthropometric measurements
These scores are normed on very large groups in which the scores form an
approximately normal distribution
A persons percentile rank is a very close estimate of how many persons could be
expected to score lower than that person
Easiest score to understand
Ex. NMAT Scores
Interquartile Range (IQR)
It is a measure of spread,
It is primarily used to build box plots.
It can also be used as a test for normal distribution.
The formula can be used to find outliers in a data set.
It is a measure of where the first and last data items are in a set
The difference between the first quartile and third quartile of a set of data or the
difference between the upper quartile or the lower quartile
The IQR formula is used in conjunction with the mean and standard deviation to
test whether or not a population has a normal distribution.
Reference:
Dr. Posecions Lecture
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