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Introduction to Statistics

Measures of Central Tendency

Two Types of Statistics


Descriptive statistics of a POPULATION Relevant notation (Greek):
Q mean N population size sum

Inferential statistics of SAMPLES from a population.


Assumptions are made that the sample reflects the population in an unbiased form. Roman Notation: X mean n sample size sum

Measures of Central Tendency


These measures tap into the average distribution of a set of scores or values in the data.
Mean Median Mode

What do you Mean?


The mean of some data is the average score or value, such as the average age of an student or average weight of professors. Inferential mean of a sample: X=(X)/n Mean of a population: Q=(X)/N

Problem of being mean


The main problem associated with the mean value of some data is that it is sensitive to outliers. Example, the average weight of MFM professors might be affected if there was one in the department that weighed 110 kg.

The Median
Because the mean average can be sensitive to extreme values, the median is sometimes useful and more accurate. The median is simply the middle value among some scores of a variable. (no standard formula for its computation)

What is the Median?


Professor A B C D E F G H I J K L Weight 165 213 189 187 165 148 251 308 151 132 199 227 194.6 Weight

Rank order and choose middle value. If even then average between two in the middle

132 148 151 165 165 187 189 199 213 227 251 308

The Mode
The most frequent response or value for a variable. Multiple modes are possible: bimodal or multimodal.

Figuring the Mode


Professor A B C D E F G H I J K L Weight 165 213 189 187 165 148 251 308 151 132 199 227

What is the mode?

Answer: 165 Important descriptive information that may help inform your research and diagnose problems like lack of variability.

Measures of Dispersion
Measures of dispersion tell us about variability in the data. Also univariate. Basic question: how much do values differ for a variable from the min to max, and distance among scores in between. We use:
Range Standard Deviation Variance

Remember that we said in order to glean information from data, i.e. to make an inference, we need to see variability in our variables. Measures of dispersion give us information about how much our variables vary from the mean, because if they dont it makes it difficult infer anything from the data. Dispersion is also known as the spread or range of variability.

The Range (no Buffalo roaming!!)


r=hl
Where h is high and l is low

In other words, the range gives us the value between the minimum and maximum values of a variable. Understanding this statistic is important in understanding your data, especially for management and diagnostic purposes.

The Standard Deviation


A standardized measure of distance from the mean. Very useful and something you do read about when making predictions or other statements about the data.

Formula for Standard Deviation

2 ( X  X ) (n - 1)
=square root =sum (sigma) X=score for each point in data _ X=mean of scores for the variable n=sample size (number of observations or cases

X Smuggle Bopsey Pallitto Homer Schnickerson Levin Honkey-Doorey Zingers Boehmer Queeny Googles-boop Calzone Mean 165 213 189 187 165 148 251 308 151 132 199 227 194.6

X- mean -29.6 18.4 -5.6 -7.6 -29.6 -46.6 56.4 113.4 -43.6 -62.6 4.4 32.4

x-mean squared 875.2 339.2 31.2 57.5 875.2 2170.0 3182.8 12863.3 1899.5 3916.7 19.5 1050.8 2480.1

49.8

We can see that the Standard Deviation equals 165.2 pounds. The weight of Zinger is still likely skewing this calculation (indirectly through the mean).

Example of S in use
Boehmer- Sobek paper. One standard deviation increase in the value of X variable increases the Probability of Y occurring by some amount.

Table 2: Development and Relative Risk of Territorial Claim


Probability* % Change Baseline development pop density pop growth Capability Openness Capability and pop growth 0.0401 0.0024 0.0332 0.0469 0.0813 0.0393 0.0942

-94.3 -17.3 16.8 102.5 -2 134.8

% Change in prob after 1 sd change in given x variable, holding others at their means

Lets go to computers!
Type in data in the Excel sheet.

Variance

2=

2 ( X  X ) (n - 1)

Note that this is the same equation except for

no square root taken. Its use is not often directly reported in research but instead is a building block for other statistical methods

Organizing and Graphing Data

Goal of Graphing?
1. Presentation of Descriptive Statistics 2. Presentation of Evidence 3. Some people understand subject matter better with visual aids 4. Provide a sense of the underlying data generating process (scatterplots)

What is the Distribution?


Gives us a picture of the variability and central tendency. Can also show the amount of skewness and Kurtosis.

Graphing Data: Types

Creating Frequencies
We create frequencies by sorting data by value or category and then summing the cases that fall into those values. How often do certain scores occur? This is a basic descriptive data question.

Ranking of Donut-eating Profs. (most to least)


Zingers Honkey-Doorey Calzone Bopsey Googles-boop Pallitto Homer Schnickerson Smuggle Boehmer Levin Queeny 308 251 227 213 199 189 187 165 165 151 148 132

Here we have placed the Professors into weight classes and depict with a histogram in columns.
Weight Class Intervals of Donut-Munching Professors 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 130-150 151-185 186-210 211-240 241-270 271-310 311+ Number

Here it is another histogram depicted as a bar graph.


Weight Class Intervals of Donut-Munching Professors 311+ 271-310 241-270 211-240 186-210 151-185 130-150 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 Number

Pie Charts:
Proportions of Donut-Eating Professors by Weight Class

130-150 151-185 186-210 211-240 241-270 271-310 311+

Actually, why not use a donut graph. Duh!


Proportions of Donut-Eating Professors by Weight Class

130-150 151-185 186-210 211-240 241-270 271-310 311+

See Excel for other options!!!!

Approval
19
100 10 30 40 50 60 70 80 20 90 0

19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 90 91 92 93 94 19 19 19 19 19 20 20 95 96 97 98 99 00 01
Approval

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89

Economic approval

Line Graphs: A Time Series

Month
19 19 19

Scatter Plot (Two variable)


Presidential Approval and Unemployment
100 80 Approval 60 Approve 40 20 0 0 2 4 6 Unemployment 8 10 12

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