Lesson 1

• The beginning of statistics was made to meet the administrative needs of the state.
• Status, statista, statistik are Latin, Italian, and German terms for political state.
• Statistics is a branch of applied mathematics that involves the collection, description, analysis, and inference of conclusions from quantitative data.
• In singular sense, statistics means Art or Science.
• Statistics is the science concerned with developing and studying methods for collecting, analyzing, interpreting and presenting empirical data.
• In plural sense, statistics means Information.
• Methods of knowing include Authority, Rationalism, Intuition, Scientific method.
• Authority is considered true because of tradition; authority figure stated that they are true.
• Rationalism uses reasoning alone to arrive at knowledge.
• Intuition is the sudden insight; clarifying idea that springs into consciousness all at once as a whole.
• Scientific method relies on objective assessment; starts when you ask a question.
• Steps in Statistical Inquiry include identifying the problem, planning the study, collecting the data, exploring the data, analyzing data and interpreting the results, presenting the results.
• Population refers to the totality of all observations.
• Sample is a subset of population.
• Parameter is any numerical value which describes a population.
• Statistic is a numerical value that describes a sample.
• Data refers to facts or set of info.
• Constant does not change.
• Variable is a characteristic that changes or varies over time.
• Qualitative data cannot be subjected to meaningful arithmetic.
• There are two types of quantitative data: continuous variable and discrete variable.
• Quantitative data is numerical in nature.
• Continuous variable has infinitely many values; measured.
• Discrete variable has a finite or countable number of values; counted.
• Independent variable is a factor in an experiment that the researcher intentionally manipulates.
• Dependent variable is what the researcher measures to see if it changes as a result of manipulation.
• Scientific research may be divided into two categories: observational studies and true experiments.
• Observational studies do not involve variables being actively manipulated by the investigator.
• Parameter estimation is conducted on samples.
• Naturalistic observation research is a type of observational study with the major goal being to obtain an accurate description of a situation.
• Correlational research focuses on two or more variables.
• True experiments attempt to determine whether changes in one variable cause changes to other.