Biostatistics and Epidemiology | Nerona, Anne Martha A.
Introduction and
Variables
Mrs. Carmelita Atamosa
At the end of the topic the students must be able to:
1. Identify correctly Statistics and Biostatistics,
and its importance in the field of health.
2. Determine different variables in the gathering
of data that can affect or help in the study of a
certain sample or population.
Statistics
• The science that is making sense of
information and data around us.
• Measure of a characteristic or attribute of a
group of people or a sample population.
• A branch of mathematics that involves in the
collection, analysis, interpretation, presentation
and organization of data that will eventually
lead to the practical utilization and translation
of data to meaningful and purposive actions or
deeper and broader appreciation of realities.
General Usage
1. In plural sense: it is used to refer to a set of
data or a mass of observation.
Example:
Public Health: quantitative data needed
as basis for planning, monitoring and
evaluation of health services, which includes:
Vital Statistics: data on vital events
like the number of deaths, births and
marriages.
Health Statistics: cover a wide variety
of numeric and information including
morbidity (causes and frequency of illness).
2. In singular sense: it refers to the body of
methods or techniques for the organization
and analysis of collected information.
Two Branches of Statistics
Characteristics in the Context of Singular Sense)
1. Descriptive Statistics
- Refers to the different methods applied in
order to summarize and present data in the
form in which will make them easier to
analyze and interpret.
- Methods of tabulation, graphical
presentation, computation of averages,
measures of variability
2. Inferential Statistics
- Refers to the methods involved in order to
make generalizations and conclusions
about a target population based on results
from a sample, includes estimation of
parameters and the testing hypotheses.
Biostatistics
• Statistical processes and methods applied to
the collection, analysis, and interpretation of
biological data and especially data relating to
human biology, health, and medicine.
• A branch of applied statistics directed
towards applications in the health sciences
and biology.
• An innovative field that involves the design,
analysis and interpretation of data for studies
in public health and medicine, to arrive at
conclusions about disease and health risks by
evaluating and applying mathematical and
statistical formula to the factors that impact
health.
Applications of Biostatistics
1. Tool in decision making process:
a. Different people make decisions in
different ways, some based on
intuition, on past experience, or on
existing information.
b. An information-based decision making
process invariably needs the
application of Biostatistics.
2. Development of new drugs.
3. Investigation in the development of disease.
4. Integral part of the foundation upon which the
expertise of health administrators, planners
and public health practitioners in general rests.
5. Problem identification, assessment, allocation
of funds and evaluation of programs
PLANNING – MONITORING
– EVALUATION – DECISION
Major Division of Statistics
1. Mathematical Statistics – study and
development of statistical theory and methods
in the abstract.
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Biostatistics and Epidemiology | Nerona, Anne Martha A.
2. Applied Statistics – application of statistical
methods to solve real problems involving
randomly generated data and the development
of new statistical methodology motivated by
real problems.
Basic Steps
1. Making Observations (gathering of data)
2. Generating a Hypothesis (the underlying law
and order suggested by the data)
3. Deciding How to Test the Hypothesis (what
critical data is required)
4. Experimenting (or observing) this leads to an
inference that either rejects or affirms the
hypothesis
Data
• Observations made on particular elements of
a sample or population.
• Could be quantities or attribute of a sample or
population that are either measured or
observed through a process of collection for
the purpose of analysis.
Primary Data
• Collected from the original source, first hand.
• Original data collected specifically for the
purpose in mind.
• Field researchers
Secondary Data
• Collected from another purpose in mind.
• Desk researchers
Constant and Variables
Constant
• Is a phenomenon whose values remain the
same from person to person, from time to
time or from place to place.
• Has fixed value or definite value.
• Examples: the pull of gravity, # of months in
a year, minutes in an hour, speed of light.
• Can be derived from the physical rather than
the biological.
Variable
• A phenomenon whose values or categories
cannot be predicted with certainty.
• An entity that can take on different values.
• Information which changes in value from one
observation to the other.
• Examples: weight, age of gestation, attributes
to certain issues, blood pressure, educational
attainment.
• We assign variables to understand specific
characteristics of a population we are
studying.
Types of Data
Quantitative Data
• Data that can be measured (quantified)
• Can be written down numerically
Discreet
• A count that can’t be made more precise,
typically involves integers (whole numbers)
• Sets of data that record actual, physical things
• Categories can be measured and ordered
according to amount
• Examples: # of patients admitted, # of
students in a class
Continuous
• Information that can be counted are
expressed with infinite degrees of precision
• Can be reduced to lower units (fractions and
decimals)
• May take any value, within a defined range
• Examples: height 160cm, weight 150.5 lbs)
Qualitative Data
• Descriptive data, difficult to measure or count
and cannot be written down numerically.
• Can be counted but mathematical operations
could not be applied.
• Examples: severity of disease – light,
moderate, severe.
Types of Variables
Dependent Variables
• Outcome of interest which shed in response
to some intervention
• Also called explanatory or predictor variables
Independent Variables
• The result or outcome of the investigation
• Response variable
Intervening Variables
• Brings an effect to the outcome of the study
which may work independently or in tandem
with the independent variable.
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Biostatistics and Epidemiology | Nerona, Anne Martha A.
• Destroys the predictive ability of the
independent variable this it has to be
controlled.
• Types of Intervening Variables
o Moderators – have a contingent effect
on the relationship between the
independent and dependent variables.
o Mediators – describe how rather than
when the effect of the independent
variable will occur on the dependent
variable.
Types of Data as to Levels / Scale of
Measurement
In the process of distinguishing variables, the process
of measurement is to be done.
Nominal Data
• Either measurable or ranked but simply
categorized or classified.
• Examples: name, address, student’s course)
• Numerical values may be assigned but they
don’t hold any mathematical value. (Ex. male
= 1, female = 2)
• Would help answer the question “Is A
different from B”
• Simplest nominal categories are existential
variables (Ex. with liver cancer – no liver
cancer)
Nominal Scale
Two groups of nominal scale:
1. Nominal-Renaming
- occurs when each object in the set is
assigned a different number
- example: Social Security Numbers
2. Nominal-Categorical
- occurs when objects are grouped into
subgroups and each object within a
subgroup is given the same number.
- the subgroup must be mutually exclusive,
that is, an object may not belong to more
than one category or subgroup.
- example: based upon political party (Lakas
-1, Laban -2, Nationalista -3)
- we cannot compute for the mean, SD
Ordinal Scale
• Are shown simply in order of magnitude since
there is no standard of measurement of
differences.
• They don’t allow for relative degree of
difference between
• Possess the property of magnitude but not
property of intervals
• Examples: guilty or not guilty, completely
agree, mostly agree, mostly disagree,
completely disagree, stage 1, stage 2, stage 3,
stage 4
• Help answer the question: How is A bigger
than B
• Peculiar characteristic is it can be ranked or
ordered
Interval Scale
• Exact distance between two categories can be
determined but the zero is arbitrary
• This type of scale allows for the degree of
difference between items, but not the ratio
between them.
• Possess the property of magnitude or intervals
but not the property of rational zero.
• Examples: Temperature (arbitrariness of zero
point is shown by the fact that) degrees
Centigrade does not mean absence of
temperature at all; it is simply a reference
point for purposes of measuring
• Would answer the question: By how many
units do A and B differ?
Ratio Scale
• Similar to the interval scale but the zero point
is fixed and the ratio of two numbers can be
meaningfully computed and interpreted. (most
measurements are in this category)
• Possess all 3 properties: magnitude, interval,
and rational zero
• Examples: weight (0 is always absence of wt,
100kgs is 2x 50 kgs).
• Would answer the question: How many times
bigger than B is A?
NOTE: It is important to distinguish the type of
variable one is dealing with because it is one of the
major determinants of the type of statistical technique
that can be most appropriately applied to the data.