Intro to Statistics-Quarter 1

Chapter 1:
How Do We Get “Good” Data?

The first and most important question to ask about any statistical study is “Where did the data come from?” The distinction between observational and experimental data is a key part of the answer. Good statistics starts with good designs for producing data. Then, we measure the characteristic of interest to obtain numbers we can work with. We should ask “Do the numbers make sense?” It is a valuable habit to look skeptically at numbers before accepting what they seem to say.

Chapter 2:
Sampling and Surveys

Simple Random Sampling is the art of choosing a part of a population to represent the whole. Good sampling identifies the population and parameter of interest, recognizes bias and other inferior sampling methods, identifies how sample surveys deal with bias and variability and identifies the margin of error for a confidence interval.

Chapter 3:
Designing Experiments

A well-designed experiment includes random allocation of subjects to treatments, comparisons and replication. Identifying the explanatory variables, treatments, response variables, confounding variables and lurking variables as they affect the experiment is key to a well-designed experiment.