Biostatistics Introduction Quiz

Study Notes

Biostatistics applies statistical methods to biological data, particularly in medicine and healthcare.
Key terms include: Statistics, data, Biostatistics, Variable, Population, Sample
Statistics is the collection, organization, summarization, and analysis of data.
Statisticians interpret and communicate findings to others.
Inferences are drawn about large data sets when only a portion of the data is observed.

Data sources include:
- Routinely kept records (e.g., medical records, hospital accounting records).
- External sources (e.g., published reports, data banks, research literature).
- Surveys (e.g., to collect information on patient transportation).
- Experiments (e.g., to evaluate different strategies to improve patient compliance).

A variable is a characteristic that takes on different values in different people, places, or things.
- Examples: heart rate, height, weight, age.

Quantitative Variables: These can be measured in the usual sense.
- Examples: height of adult males, weights of preschool children, ages of patients in a dental clinic.
- Discrete: Variables with gaps or interruptions in their values. Example: Number of daily admissions to a hospital, number of decayed teeth per child.
- Continuous: Variables that can assume any value within an interval. Example: Height, weight, skull circumference.
Qualitative Variables: These cannot be measured directly, but can be classified or categorized.
- Examples: Socio-economic groups, social classes based on income, education.

Population: The largest collection of values of a random variable for which there's interest. For example, the weights of all children enrolled in a certain elementary school. Populations can be finite or infinite.
Sample: A part of a population. For example, the weights of a fraction of the children in the school.