BIOSTATISTICS

Mr C. Mbotwa
UDSM College of Health
and Allied Sciences

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BIOSTATISTICS

Introduction

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 Biostatistics
• Biostatistics can be defined as the
application of statistical methods to the
solution of biological problems.
• The biological problems of this definition are
those arising in the basic biological sciences
as well as in such applied areas as the
health-related sciences and the agricultural
sciences.

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 Biostatistics
• Biostatistics is a growing field with
applications in many areas of biology
including epidemiology, medical
sciences, health sciences, educational
research and environmental sciences.
• Statistical thinking is not really different
from ordinary disciplined scientific
thinking, in which we try to quantify our
observations.
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 Biostatistics
• Any science needs precision for its
development.
• Precision is all the more important
when it comes to health sciences. For
precision; facts, observations or
measurements have to be expressed in
figures.

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 Biostatistics
• Medicine is essentially an empirical
science. It depends on observations
and not on theories or theorems.
• As a part of clinical practice or research
we deal with many observations, which
when systematically arranged, are
called Data.

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 Biostatistics
• Everything in medicine be it research,
diagnosis or treatment, depends on
counting or measurement.
• High or low blood pressure has no
meaning, unless it is expressed in
figures.
• Thus, the knowledge of medical
statistics or biostatistics is needed to
analyze and interpret those figures. 7
 Biostatistics
• In nature, blood pressure, pulse rate,
action of a drug or any other
measurement or counting varies not
only from person to person but also
from group to group.
• The extent of this variability in an
attribute or a character, whether it is by
chance i.e. biological or normal, is
learnt by studying statistics as a
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science.
 Biostatistics
• The data after collection, lying in a
haphazard mass are of no use, unless
they are properly sorted, presented,
compared, analyzed and interpreted.
• For such a study of figures, one has to
apply certain mathematical techniques
called statistical methods.

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 Statistics
• Statistics is concerned with collection,
organization, summarization and
analysis of data.
• We seek to draw inferences about a
body of data when only a part of the
data is observed.

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 Descriptive Statistics Vs
Inferential Statistics
• Descriptive statistics are used to
describe the basic features of the data
in a study. They provide simple
summaries about the sample and the
measures.
• With inferential statistics, you are trying
to reach conclusions that extend
beyond the immediate data alone.
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 Descriptive Statistics Vs
Inferential Statistics
• For instance, we use inferential
statistics to try to infer from the sample
data what the population might think.
• Or, we use inferential statistics to make
judgments of the probability that an
observed difference between groups is
a dependable one or one that might
have happened by chance in this
study.
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 Descriptive Statistics Vs
Inferential Statistics
• Thus, we use inferential statistics to
make inferences from our data to more
general conditions;
• we use descriptive statistics simply to
describe what's going on in our data.

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 Data
• Data are numbers which can be
measured or can be obtained by
counting.
• Statistics is concerned with the
interpretation of the data and the
communication of information about the
data.

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 Sources of data
Data are obtained from
• Surveys
• Experiments
• Direct observation
• Records
• Reports e.g Census report

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 Variables
• A variable is an object, characteristic
or property that can have different
values. A variable can be quantitative or
qualitative
• A quantitative variable can be
measured in some way and expressed in
numerical form. E.g Weight, Height.
• A qualitative variable is characterized
by its inability to be measured but it can
be sorted into categories. E.g Eye colors,
Sex. 16
 Random variables
• A random variable is one that cannot
be predicted in advance because it
arises by chance. It is a real number x
connected to a random experiment E
•Observations or measurements are
used to obtain the value of a random
variable.
• Random variables may be discrete or
continuous. 17
 Discrete random variable
• A discrete random variable takes
at most a countable values in a
specified range.
•Discrete variables can not be
expressed in decimals or fractions,
e.g number of peoples,

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 Continuous random variable
• A continuous random variable
takes all possible values in a
specified range.
•Continuous variables can not be
counted and can be expressed in
decimals or fractions, e.g
temperature, height, weight, etc.
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 Scales of Measurement of the
Variable
There are four scales levels of
measurement of the variable
i. Nominal
ii.Ordinal
iii.Interval
iv.Ratio

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 Nominal
• Nominal scales are used for labeling
variables, without any quantitative
value.
• Nominal scales could simply be called
labels.
• A good way to remember all of this is
that “nominal” sounds a lot like “name”
and nominal scales are kind of like
“names” or labels.
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 Nominal
• Gender
1. Male 2. Female
• Hair color
1. Brown 2. Black 3. Gray 4. Other
• Place of residence
1. Rural 2. Urban
NB: The best descriptive statistics for
nominal variables is mode. Mean
and median can not be computed. 22
 Ordinal
• With ordinal scales, the order of the
values is what’s important and
significant, but the differences between
each one is not really known.
• For example, is the difference between
“OK” and “Unhappy” the same as the
difference between “Very Happy” and
“Happy?” We can’t say.

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 Ordinal
• Ordinal scales are typically measures
of non-numeric concepts like
satisfaction, happiness, discomfort, etc.
• “Ordinal” is easy to remember because
is sounds like “order” and that’s the key
to remember with “ordinal scales”–it is
the order that matters, but that’s all you
really get from these.
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 Ordinal
• Note: The best way to determine
central tendency on a set of ordinal
data is to use the mode or median; the
mean cannot be defined from an
ordinal set.
• Here are some of the examples of
ordinal scale level of measurement:

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 Ordinal
• How do you feel today?
1. Very unhappy 2. Unhappy 3. Ok
4. Happy 5. Very happy
• How satisfied are you with our
services?
1. Very unsatisfied 2. satisfied
3. Neutral 4. Satisfied 5. Very
satisfied
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 Interval
• Interval scales are numeric scales in
which we know not only the order, but
also the exact differences between the
values.
• The classic example of an interval
scale is Celsius temperature because
the difference between each value is
the same.
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 Interval
• For example, the difference between
60 and 50 degrees is a measurable 10
degrees, as is the difference between
80 and 70 degrees.
• Time is another good example of an
interval scale in which the increments
are known, consistent, and
measurable.
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 Interval
• Interval scales are nice because the
realm of statistical analysis on these
data sets opens up.
• For example, central tendency can be
measured by mode, median, or mean;
standard deviation can also be
calculated.

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 Interval
• Like the others, you can remember the
key points of an “interval scale” pretty
easily. “Interval” itself means “space in
between,” which is the important thing
to remember–interval scales not only
tell us about order, but also about the
value between each item.
• Here’s the problem with interval scales:
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 Interval
• They don’t have a “true zero.” For
example, there is no such thing as “no
temperature.” Without a true zero, it is
impossible to compute ratios.
• With interval data, we can add and
subtract, but cannot multiply or divide.
consider this: 10 degrees + 10 degrees
= 20 degrees, but 20 degrees is not
twice as hot as 10 degrees.
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 Ratio
• Ratio scales are the best when it
comes to measurement scales
because they tell us about the order,
they tell us the exact value between
units, AND they also have an absolute
zero–which allows for a wide range of
both descriptive and inferential
statistics to be applied.

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 Ratio
• As with interval scale, everything about
interval data applies to ratio scales with
addition that ratio scales have a clear
definition of zero.
• Good examples of ratio variables
include height and weight.
• Ratio scales provide a wealth of
possibilities when it comes to statistical
analysis. 33
 Ratio
• These variables can be meaningfully
added, subtracted, multiplied, divided
(ratios).
• Central tendency can be measured by
mode, median, or mean; measures of
dispersion, such as standard deviation
and coefficient of variation can also be
calculated from ratio scales.
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 Population and sample
•A population is the collection or
set of all of the values that a variable
may have.
• A sample is a portion of a
population in which a researcher
intends to study.

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 Statistic and parameter
• A statistic is a descriptive measure
computed from the data of the
sample. Example, sample mean and
sample standard deviation
• A parameter is a descriptive
measure computed from the data of
the population. Example, population
mean, and population standard
deviation 36
 Statistical inference
• Statistical inference is the
procedure used to reach a
conclusion about a population based
on the information derived from a
sample that has been drawn from
that population.

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 END

THANK YOU

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