Statistics

Statistics

Chapter 2: Summarizing, Organizing, and Describing Data

Often, you will encounter statistical data that has been summarized and organized into graphs or tables. This is done to allow for the proper description of a given data set. As a student in statistics, you will encounter several different types of data organizational methods and will have to apply your statistical knowledge to interpret the given data set. This section will begin with a description of common ways to organize and summarize statistical data.

Learning Objectives

After reading Chapter 2 and completing the workbook, you should be able to:

1. Know the two types of data. 2. Know how to organize data into a graphical, chart, and table. 3. Know how to interpret graphs, charts, and tables.

4. Know how to apply basic statistical calculations to the data found in graphs, charts, and tables. 5. Apply the basic statistical concepts and understanding of graphs, charts, and tables to data interpretation.

Study Clues

A clear understanding of the basic statistical terms and concepts presented in Chapter 2 will help to prepare you to advance in this course and learn more complex statistical calculations and specific statistical tests. As you study, you should pay particular attention to the types of graphs and charts presented. You should pay particular attention to the stem-and-leaf plot and understand how to develop and interpret the data found in the stem-and-leaf plot. You should also understand the basic concepts of a histogram and how to interpret graphically represented data.

2.1 Basic Terms

Types of Data

• Quantitative: An objective measurement based real numbers as discussed in Chapter 1. Quantitative data can be calculated. • Categorical: Often referred to as qualitative and the data represents specific categories that are not associated with real numbers. For example, male versus female; tall versus short – these are categories that tell us important information about the data set. However, it does not affiliate or assign any numerical value.

Types of Plots, Graphs, and Charts

• Stem-and-leaf plots: Organize the data based on the properties of real-numbers.

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