Statistics and
Probability
Lesson 3
Basic Term in Statistics
Learning outcomes:
At the end of the lesson, the learner is able to:
Define universe and differentiate it with population; and
Define and differentiate between qualitative and
quantitative variables, and between discrete and
continuous variables
Number Usual Daily Usual
Classes Height Age of Usual
food number Happine
of Daily Most Usual
of Weight mother expenditur of text Preferred ss
Student Sex siblings (in (in
Allowance
e messages
Sleeping Index for
(in (in kg) in school Color
Time
Number feet) years) (in pesos)
in school sent in a the Day
person) (in pesos) day
1 M 4 54 6”5’ 31 30 10 3 Blue 7:00pm 10
2 F 4 39 5”6’ 41 50 40 50 Gray 9:40pm 8
3 F 4 48 5”4’ 44 50 20 25 Blue 10:00pm 8
4 F 4 43 5”4’ 31 40 20 24 white 10:00pm 7
Basic Terms in Statistics
1. Universe
- as the collection or set of units or entities
from whom we got the data.
- this set of units answers the first W’s of data
contextualization.
Example:
- the set of students of this Statistics and Probability
class is our universe.
2. Variable
A variable is a characteristic that is observable or
measurable in every unit of the universe.
Example:
Age, number of siblings, weight, height, age of mother,
usual daily allowance in school, usual daily food
expenditure in school, usual number of text messages
sent in a day, most preferred color, usual sleeping time
and happiness index for the day.
3. Population
The set of all possible values of a variable is referred to
as a population.
The number of population in a study will be equal to the
number of variables observed.
Example:
In the data collection activity we had, there are 12
populations corresponding to 12 variables.
4. Sample
A subgroup of a universe or of a population
BROAD CLASSIFICATION OF VARIABLES
Qualitative Variables
express a categorical attribute, such as sex (male or
female), religion, marital status, region of residence,
highest educational attainment.
Qualitative variables do not strictly take on numeric
values (although we can have numeric codes for them,
e.g., for sex variable, 1 and 2 may refer to male, and
female, respectively).
Qualitative data answer questions “what kind.”
Qualitative Variables
Sometimes, there is a sense of ordering in qualitative
data, e.g., income data grouped into high, middle and
low-income status.
Data on sex or religion do not have the sense of
ordering, as there is no such thing as a weaker or
stronger sex, and a better or worse religion.
Qualitative variables are sometimes referred to as
categorical variables.
Quantitative Variables
otherwise called numerical data, whose sizes are
meaningful, answer questions such as “how much” or
“how many”.
Quantitative variables have actual units of measure.
Examples of quantitative variables include the height,
weight, number of registered cars, household size, and
total household expenditures/income of survey
respondents.
Quantitative data may be further
classified into:
a. Discrete Data
are those data that can be counted, e.g., the
number of days for cellphones to fail, the ages of
survey respondents measured to the nearest year, and
the number of patients in a hospital. These data
assume only (a finite or infinitely) countable number of
values.
b. Continuous data
are those that can be measured, e.g. the exact height
of a survey respondent and the exact volume of some
liquid substance. The possible values are uncountably
infinite.
TYPE OF QUANTITATIVE
VARIABLE TYPE OF VARIABLE
VARIABLE
Class Student Number Qualitative
Sex Qualitative
Number of Siblings Quantitative Discrete
Weight ( in kilograms) Quantitative Continuous
Height ( in centimeters) Quantitative Continuous
Age of Mother Quantitative Discrete
Usual Daily Allowance in School (in Quantitative Discrete
pesos)
Usual Daily Food Expenditure in Quantitative Discrete
School (in pesos)
Usual Number of Text Messages Quantitative Discrete
Sent in a Day
Usual Sleeping Time Qualitative
Most Preferred Color Qualitative
Happiness Index for the Day Qualitative
A survey of students in a certain school is conducted. The survey questionnaire
details the information on the following variables. For each of these variables,
identify whether the variable is qualitative or quantitative, and if the latter, state
whether it is discrete or continuous.
a. number of family members who are working
b. ownership of a cell phone among family members
c. length (in minutes) of longest call made on each cell phone owned per month
d. ownership/rental of dwelling
e. amount spent in pesos on food in one week
f. occupation of household head
g. total family income
h. number of years of schooling of each family member
i. access of family members to social media
j. amount of time last week spent by each family member using the internet
