STAT 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Observational Study, Dependent And Independent Variables, United States Constitution

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Statistics
• Course: STAT 100
• Professor: Gaitri Yapa

Document Summary

Learning objectives: recognize the individuals and variables in a statistical study, distinguish observational studies from experimental studies, identify sample surveys, censuses and experiments. Statistics science of learning from data: solving complex problems, making inferences and conclusions about random phenomenon. Individuals objects described by a set of data. Ie. month, date, time of year, people in a study. Variables any characteristic of an individual: can take on multiple different values for different individuals. Ie. average temperature, total rainfall in mm, bacteria type, grades. Data actual measurements of variables recorded for individuals. Categorical variables places an individual into one of several groups or categories. Numerical variable takes numerical value so adding or averaging makes sense: sometimes called a quantitative variable. Response variable measures outcome or result of a study. Observational study observes individuals and measures variables of interest: does not intervene or influence responses, used to describe a group or situation. Population group of individuals of which we draw information from.