Basic Statistical Concepts-3
Basic Statistical Concepts-3
Research Bangladesh
Sometimes we are interested in presenting two categorical variables in the same table, which we
call the two-way table (as we have two variables).
Tabular presentation of data(Cont..)
Cross- tabulation: Three-way table
Three categorical variables can be presented in the same table such as sex, disease status, and
smoking status as follows
Graphical presentation of data
It is important to use the appropriate graph for each data type that clearly delivers the meaning.
Nominal Variables
Nominal variables: Pie chart
Nominal variables: Bar graph
Graphical presentation of data(Cont..)
Ordinal Variables
In any research project, it is not enough for the researcher to have an idea, we need to formulate it into
a research question.
A research question should be
A question
Specific (time/place/subjects/condition)
Answerable
Novel
Relevant to medical knowledge
Examples of research questions
▪ What is the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Egypt?
▪ Does lowering blood pressure reduce the risk of coronary heart disease in diabetic patients?
▪ Is the prognosis following stroke dependent on age at the time of the event?
▪ Is drug A better than drug B in lowering blood pressure?
▪ Is there a difference between males and females regarding response to drug X?
Hypothesis testing
If we have a research question and we want to reach a conclusion about it, we do what is called
hypothesis testing. (The key message is one variable to another variable relationship finding)
Steps for hypothesis testing
1. Define the null and alternative hypotheses.
5. Check whether to reject the null hypothesis by comparing the p-value to the level of significance.
In the real world (population): Smoking rate in males = smoking rate in females
Hypothesis testing
Before hypothesis tasting we need to know some essential term
Level of significance
The level of significance (α) is the maximum allowed probability of committing a Type I error. The
smaller the value of α, the lower the risk of committing a type 1 error. Hence, we choose a level of
significance depending on the consequence of committing a Type I error. Common values for α are
0.05 and 0.01 indicating 5% and 1%, respectively.
So, the confidence interval depends on both the variability in the data and the sample size.
Hypothesis testing
Before hypothesis tasting we need to know some essential term
Standard error
P-value(Probability value)
The P value is defined as the probability under the assumption of no effect or no difference (null
hypothesis), of obtaining a result equal to or more extreme than what was actually observed.
It determines null hypothesis is accepted or rejected.
P-value is a probability and therefore lies between 0 and 1
0.05 or 5% is commonly used as a cut-off (significance level)
Hypothesis testing
One tailed & Two tailed test