Before going into the details about statistics its important to

clarify some concepts:

Critical Thinking:
Critical thinking is the set of skills that allow you to understand
and asses the limitations of statistical methods. That way
you're aware of the assumptions, appropriateness, biases, and
justifiable conclusions.
Statistical Literacy:
As with any science, yore expected to master the statistical
jargon, including its concepts and methods.
Why Statistics: Page 02
Some problems are way too costly and complex to be analyzed
using traditional mathematical methods; so, we are forced to
make educated guesses on limited information. For this kind of
situations statistical methods are an excellent tool. However,
statistics are not a replacement for a in-dept. knowledge of
the field where it is being applied. Statistical Methods are not
a miracle cure.
What is Statistics: Is the study of how to (a) Collect (b)
Organize (c) Analyze and (d) Interpret , numerical
information from data.
Population: Consist of all individuals of the set.
Sample: A portion of all the individuals of the set.
Random Sample: A sample consisting of number of
individuals from a population, chosen without using any type
of pattern.
Individuals: People or objects included in the study
Variable: A characteristic of the individual to be measured or
observed in the study. The characteristic can be Quantitative
or Qualitative.
Random Variable: Characteristinc measured in an experiment
that, by chance, can get different values.
Quantitative Variables: Have numerical measurement
Qualitative Variables: Place the individual in groups
|categories. Sometimes called Categorical Variables. Is non-
numerical, collected by visual observation.
Parameter: Numerical measure that describes an aspect of
the population.
Statistic: Numerical measure that describes an aspect of a
sample. Statistics estimates parameters.
Random samples are the best samples we can take to
make inferences about the population. However, the
inferences have a degree of uncertainty, but the
uncertainty is measurable using probability.
Levels of Measurement:
1. Nominal (b) Ordinal (c) Interval (d) Ratio
Nominal: Means in name only. Not intended for
numerical calculation, but to be placed in categories.
For looking at it you cant determine any ordering of
the individuals that would be meaningful. e.g. (1)
Taos, Acoma, and Cohiti are the names of Native
American Pueblos.
Ordinal: Nominal, plus, data can be arranged in
order, smallest to larger, worst to best; but the
differences are meaningless. e.g. (1) stars rating give
you an idea of how good or bad something is relative
to other, but it tells nothing about how much. 4 stars
rating is not necessarily twice better as 2 stars. (2)
Rankings in a cla, based on GPA, tells you what comes
first but gives you no idea of the difference between
them. On raking students, for example, the difference
between 1
st
and 2
nd
could be as low as 0.01, or as
large as 1 full point, or larger.
Interval Level: Ordinal, plus, differences between
individuals are quantified, and meaningful. However,
there is no zero starting point, so, we cant stablish
ratios. e.g. (1) 30 C is 15 larger than 15 C, but it
doesnt means it is twice as hot, because 0 Celsius is
not an absolute zero. Zero Celsius doesnt means
zero heat.
Ratio: Interval, plus, includes a zero starting point,
so, we can take ratios between individuals. e.g. (1)
We can say that Kelvin is twice as hot as

Kelvin.
(2) Money: we can say that $20 is twice as much
money as $10.
Exercises: pages 5, 6, 7, 8
Critical Thinking:
1. Specify the process and requirements for
measurement for any variable to measure.
2. Be sure your instrument really measure what you
intent. e.g. If you want to know people knowledge
and ask them where a place is located they could
lie, affecting results. It would be more effective to
ask them to show the place in a map.
3. Are you working with a sample , or a population