32 Questions
What is the primary concern of public health?
Disease prevention
What is the branch of public health that attempts to discover the causes of disease?
Epidemiology
What is biostatistics primarily concerned with?
Biological sciences and medical/health-related disciplines
What is a population in the context of biostatistics?
A collection of persons/things or characteristics in which we have an interest to investigate
What is a sample in the context of biostatistics?
A subset of a population
What is an example of a population?
The collection of persons living in Dubai city who test positive for hepatitis C
What is an example of a sample?
A sample of 50 men over age 65 who suffer from hypertension
What is an important characteristic of a sample?
It should be a representative part of the population
What type of data is represented by a categorical variable with no natural numerical value?
Nominal
Which type of data can be ranked but has no intrinsic numerical value?
Ordinal
What type of data represents quantities that take on specific values, usually integers?
Discrete
What type of data is represented by quantities that are not restricted to specific values?
Continuous
What type of data is age?
Quantitative continuous
What type of variable is usually coded numerically, but the codes are just alternate names?
Nominal
Which type of data is often used to represent education levels?
Ordinal
What is the main purpose of exploratory data analysis (EDA)?
To visualize distributions and relationships
What type of data is represented by the number of traffic accidents?
Discrete
What is the term for a summarization of the elements of a population?
Parameter
What type of data is blood type?
Nominal
What type of data is represented by birth weights?
Continuous
What should be the goal when it comes to bias in statistics?
To minimize bias
What comes first in the data analysis process?
Exploratory data analysis
What type of data is nutritional status?
Ordinal
What is the term for a summarization of the elements of a sample?
Statistic
What is a characteristic that takes on more than one value called?
A variable
Which of the following is an example of a variable?
Class grades
What is the independent variable in a study?
The cause
What is the dependent variable in a study?
The effect
In a sample of 50 males, what is gender?
A constant
Which example correctly identifies the independent variable?
Smoking on colorectal cancer (CRC) risk
What is a snapshot of a data collection form called?
A questionnaire
What is an example of a variable that is not a characteristic of a person?
Vehicle type
Study Notes
Biostatistics
- Biostatistics is the branch of statistics that deals primarily with the biological sciences and medical/health-related disciplines.
- It combines the two disciplines of epidemiology and biostatistics to discover the causes of disease and make disease prevention possible.
Population and Sample
- A population is a collection of persons/things or characteristics of interest to investigate.
- A sample is a subset of a population.
- A sample should be a representative part of the population.
Variables
- A variable is a characteristic that takes on more than one value.
- Examples of variables include age, gender, business income and expenses, country of birth, capital expenditure, class grades, eye color, and vehicle type.
- A variable may also be called a data item.
Independent and Dependent Variables
- The independent variable is the cause; its value is independent of other variables in the study.
- The dependent variable is the effect; its value depends on changes in the independent variable.
Data Types / Measurement Scales
- Nominal data measures values that fall into categories with no natural numerical value.
- Ordinal data falls into categories that can be qualitatively ordered but have no intrinsic numerical value.
- Discrete data is measured quantities that take on specific values, usually integers.
- Continuous data is measured quantities not restricted to specific values.
Central Dogma of Statistics
- A parameter is any summarization of the elements of a population.
- A statistic is any summarization of the elements of a sample.
- The goal is to minimize the difference between the statistic and the parameter.
Descriptive Statistics : Exploratory Data Analysis
- Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) allows us to visualize distributions and relationships, detect errors, and assess assumptions for confirmatory analysis.
- EDA is the first step of data analysis.
This tutorial covers the basics of measurement in biostatistics, a branch of public health concerned with disease prevention and epidemiology.
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