STATS DEFINITIONS

• DATA IS THE COLLECTION OF DISTINCT VALUES WHICH REPRESENT INFORMATION
• DATUM IS A SINGLE VALUE IN A COLLECTION OF DATA
• RANDOM VARIABLE IS ANY CHARACTERISTIC OF INTEREST ON WHICH DATA IS COLLECTED AND ANALYSED
• DATA SET REFERS TO COLLECTED DATA
• STATISTICS IS THE SCIENCE OF DATA AND THE STUDY OF DRAWING MEANINGFUL CONCLUSIONS FROM DATA USING VARIOUS METHODS WHICH SUMMARISE, ORGANISE, AND ANALYSE IT
• BIOSTATISTICS IS THE DISCIPLINE CONCERNED WITH THE COLLECTION, SUMMARAISING, PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF BIOMEDICAL DATA
• PRIMARY DATA IS DATA THAT WAS COLLECTED FIRST HAND BY A RESEARCHER
• SECONDARY DATA REFERS TO ALREADY COLLECTED DATA WHICH IS MADE AVAILABLE FOR THIRD PARTIES TO USE
• POPULATION IS THE FULL SET OF ITEMS THAT THE STUDY IS INTERESTED IN
• PARAMETER IS THE MEASURE DESCRIBING A CHARACTERISTC OF A POPULATION
• SAMPLE IS THE PORTION OF THE POPULATION
• SAMPLING UNIT IS AN OBJECT ON WHICH OBSERVATIONS ARE MADE OR MEASUREMENTS ARE TAKEN
• DESCRIPTVE STATISTICS REFERS TO STATISTICS THAT CONDENSES SAMPLE DATA INTO A FEW SUMMARY DESCRIPTIVE MEASURES
• INFERENTIAL STATISTICS REFERS TO STATISTICS THAT GENERALISES SAMPLE FINDINGS TO THE POPULATION
• STATISTICAL MODELLING BUILDS MODELS OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN RANDOM VARIABLES
• VARIANCE IS A MEASURE OF AVERAGED SQUARED DEVIATION FROM THE CENTRAL VALUE
• STANDARD DEVIATION IS THE SQUARE ROOT OF THE VARIANCE
• COEFFICIENT OF VARIATION IS A MEASURE OF RELATIVE VARIABLITY