STAT 048 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Statistical Population
Document Summary
Statistics: the scientific discipline which consists of: the collection of data, describing data, drawing conclusions or generalizations from data. Utilizes numerical and graphical methods to look for patterns in a data set, to summarize the information revealed in a data set, and to present the information in a convenient form. Inferential statistics utilizes sample data to make estimates, decisions, predictions or other generalizations about a larger set of data and measure their reliability. Cases: the objects described by a set of data, or the source of a set of data: cases may be people, but they may also be business firms, common stocks, or other objects. Population: the entire collection of cases about which information is sought. Sample: a subset of the cases of a population. Variable: a characteristic or property of a case: i. e. gpa, distance you live from campus, major, number of classes took in spring.
