8/25/2009 Lecture 1 1STOR 155 Introductory StatisticsLecture 1: OverviewThe UNIVERSITY of NORTH CAROLINAat CHAPEL HILL8/25/2009 Lecture 1 2Registration Issues• Contact Charlotte Rogers:Hanes 321, 962-2307, [email protected]• Fill out some paperwork with her to be put on the waiting list.8/25/2009 Lecture 1 3My Strategy for Success• Stay active/involved in class. • Ask questions during class (especially if you do not understand something).– Do not feel shy or stupid.• Answer questions to help other students if you can.• Keep pace with the lectures, review daily, do homework after each lecture to help understand the materials.• Make effective use of office hours (Instructor and IA) and open tutorial sessions– Help you to answer questions about homework and lectures– Private time vs. public time8/25/2009 Lecture 1 4What is Statistics?• "Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."----Sherlock HolmesThe Adventures of the Copper Beeches• "Data! Data! Data!" he yelled loudly. "I can't teach Statistics without Data."----InstructorIntroductory Statistics8/25/2009 Lecture 1 5What is Statistics?• Statistics: the science of collecting, organizing, and interpreting data.• data = information Inference about population (using statistical tools)PopulationSample of data8/25/2009 Lecture 1 6How can Statistics help us?• claims that it contains 1000 chips. Is this true?• Among a group of randomly chosen people, how likely is it for two of them to have the same birthday?• What is the relationship between Income and Years of Education? • Design your own experiment, collect data, analyze data and draw conclusions.8/25/2009 Lecture 1 7SAT Scores• Parents and teachers have been concerned about the trend of declining SAT scores and sought ways to halt the decline.• One question: the effect of classroom atmosphere (strict or liberal).• To answer the question, 50 students (24 males and 26 females) participated in a study on student performance, as measured by SAT scores at the end of the school year.• The students were divided into two groups of 25 each (12 males and 13 females), with Group 1 to study under a strictatmosphere while Group 2 under a very permissiveatmosphere. • They were matched according to socio-economic background.8/25/2009 Lecture 1 8SAT Scores• After nine months, all students were given the same standardized tests: the verbal test and the mathematics test.Student Group Gender SATMath SATVerA Strict F 670 700B Strict M 700 680C Liberal F 750 730D Liberal M 690 750… … … … …8/25/2009 Lecture 1 9SAT Scores• This example involves data collection, data analysis, and statistical inference.– How?• Questions:– Does stricter classroom atmosphere increase the average score?– Why “matched according to socio-economic background”?– Why “12 males and 13 females per group”?– Is the group size 50 large enough to make a confident conclusion?8/25/2009 Lecture 1 10Fundamental Concepts• Population: the entire group of individuals that we want information about.– Students (who are about to take SAT)• Sample: a part of the population that we actually examine in order to gather information.– those students selected into the study• Sample size: number of observations/individuals in a sample.– 50• Statistical inference: to make an inference about a population based on the information contained in a sample.– Based on the data from the study, to infer whether a stricter classroom atmosphere increases SAT scores in general.8/25/2009 Lecture 1 11Fundamental Concepts• A parameter is a value that describes the population. It’s fixed but unknown in practice.– the average SAT score of all the students, who are about to take SAT.• A statistic is a value that describes a sample. It’s known once a sample is obtained.– the average SAT score of all the students, who are selected into the study.– a sample analogy of the parameter.8/25/2009 Lecture 1 12Practice Exercise• Suppose you are interested in finding out the average SAT score of UNC unders,– The SAT scores of all UNC unders in STOR155– The SAT scores of all UNC unders• Suppose you are interested in finding out the average SAT score of US unders,– The SAT scores of all UNC unders– The SAT scores of all US unders8/25/2009 Lecture 1 13Take Home Message• Statistics is the science of data:– Collecting– Analyzing– Decision making= Information processing• Fundamental concepts:– Population, parameter, sample, statistic, sample size• You can do a LOT with statistics … what ?Take home message• Interested in population, but it’s too large to become known completely• Statisticians work on sample, which is a smaller and observable ``proxy’’• There is uncertainty in this transition, hence errors are inevitable … • That’s why statistical methods are needed …8/25/2009 Lecture 1
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