Download Statistics 3502/6304

Statistics 3502/6304
Prof. Eric A. Suess
Chapter 1
The language of Statistics
• Knowing the vocabulary used in Statistics is sometimes difficult. The
reason why is because of the use of common words that are in the
dictionary as technical terms.
• Examples: mean, variation, correlation, sample, population, random,
hypothesis, confidence, and the list goes on.
The language of Statistics
• We need to keep a list of the vocabulary so we understand what is
being asked in Statistics related questions.
• Start with sample and populcation
The language of Statistics
• Population: the set of all measurements of interest
• Sample: any subset of measurements selected from the population
Example Problems
1. Monitoring quality of a lightbulb manufacturing facility. This is an
example where Quality Control/6 Sigma is used.
2. Relationship between quitting smoking and gaining weight. This is
an example of Medical Research.
3. What effect does nitrogen fertilizer have on wheat production?
This is an example of Agricultural Research.
4. Determining public opinion toward a question, issue, product, or
candidate. This is an example of Polling.
Gallop Poll
• The Gallop Organization is one of the long standing companies that
does Public Opinion Polling and other Polling.
• Gallop Poll on wikipedia
• Gallop website
Why study Statistics?
• Find the reference to the Utts paper.
• jstor in the library, see Statistics and locate the American Statistician,
May 2003
• Utts, What Educated Citizens Should Know About Statistics and
Probability.