Elementary Statistics
Unit 1 Review
Students should be able to define or answer questions about the following.
General
Levels of Measurement
statistics (general)
population
sample
parameter
statistic
qualitative data
quantitative data
continuous data
discrete data
descriptive statistics
inferential statistics
nominal
ordinal
interval
ratio
Graphs and Charts
Measures of Central Tendency
frequency table
relative frequency table
line graph
histogram
box-and-whisker plot
pie chart
mean
median
mode
Sampling
convenience
random
stratified
systematic
cluster
Measures of Position
quartile
percentile
Measures of Variation
Skewness
range
variance
standard deviation
coefficient of variation
symmetric (none)
right (positive)
left (negative)
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Elementary Statistics
Unit 1 Review
Histogram
Most popular display.
Can be used at any level of measurement.
Easiest to understand.
Is not a good descriptive measure when comparing more than one variable.
Line Graph (Frequency Polygon)
Common display.
Use with continuous data.
Good for multiple comparisons.
Shows increases and decreases well.
Pie Chart or Circle Graph
Use only with nominal level data.
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Box Plots
are used for multiple comparisons.
need some explanation of how to interpret.
Mean
is appropriate at the interval or ratio level of measurement.
is greater than the median in a skewed right distribution.
is less than the median in a skewed left distribution.
is not appropriate when outliers exist
is the most common measure of central tendency
Median
is appropriate at the ordinal, interval, and ratio level of measurement.
is equal to the 50th percentile.
is not sensitive to outliers
Mode
is appropriate at any level of measurement.
is usually not an accurate measure of central tendency.
should only be used at the nominal level.
Range
is easy to understand
is influenced by outliers
uses only two data values to compute
Variance
takes every data value into account
is not commonly used as a descriptive measure of variability
Standard
Deviation
is the square root of the variance
is the most common descriptive measure of variability
is not easily understood by the general public
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