Vocabulary

Vocabulary and Examples

Data vs. Statistics

Data is the numbers, measurements, observations that you collect while statistics is what you do with the data by interpreting or organizing it. For example, I record how many people buy pizza from the school which is data. The statistics is when I interpret the data to figure out how many people ordered cheese or pepperoni pizza.

Population vs. Sample

Sample is the subset of the population which is all of the outcomes or responses. For example, the people that live in Mason are the subset of the population of Ohio.

Parameters vs. Statistic

Parameter is a numerical description of a population while a statistic is a numerical description of a sample. For example, there are 850 people in the class of 2013 which is a parameter. However, there are 26 seniors in an English IV class which is a sample of the population making it a statistic.

Descriptive Statistics vs. Inferential Statistics

In descriptive statistics, you will use charts, data, and graphs to organize data. In inferential statistics, you use the charts, data, and graphs to draw conclusions. For example, if I create a line graph comparing how tall a plant grew with and without sunlight for over a year this would be a descriptive statistic. However, if I drew a conclusion that the plant grows well in sunlight then I have an inferential statistic.  

Qualitative Data vs. Quantitative Data

Qualitative data describes the qualities of something and quantitative data describes the numerical aspects of something. For example, qualitative data includes shape and texture while quantitative data is measurements.

Census- Official count of a survey or population. For example, the census of MHS would be 3,500 students. 

Survival Activity

Survival Activity

1. The activity I completed over the last two days was that we were given 11 items and we had to rank them    1-11 in order of importance in a survival situation. Then, we went into separate groups and discussed group rankings which we compared with the rest of the class. We used the class group rankings as data and found the mean, median, and range of the data. Our group used the data and discussed the items that were ranked the same by every group, ranked differently by every group, and used statistics to justify our answers. Then, we were told an expert's rank and we found the absolute difference between the expert and our personal rank. Our class discovered in the end that the closer your absolute value difference was to zero the better your personal ranks were was to the expert's opinion. 

2. Our group was pretty average in how well we would have survived. Our group's average for our absolute value difference was 2.54. I did this by using our group ranks and taking the absolute value difference of those ranks compared to the expert's rank. I believe that is average compared to the expert's average absolute difference of zero. The closer your absolute value difference is to zero, the better your group would have survived.

3. As an individual, I believe I was pretty average in how I survived. My average absolute value difference was 2.72. I did better with my group than I did as an individual but I believe that my average was higher because I ranked the cigarette lighter as 11, while the expert ranked it 1. The bigger the absolute differences were between my personal rank and the expert rank made my average higher like the small ax.