02.01 Basic Statistics

So statistics begins from the very beginning of research in that  one needs to know exactly how data is going to be collected, whether it is data actually acquired by the individual directly or indirect secondary research… one has to be concerned with how the data was obtained and screen for good practices that are without bias. And once data is obtained much of statistics is putting that data through the ringer to see how it flushes out. Only to interpret what the data might be telling us and then compiling it in such a way that we can share our findings with others for peer review and further research. So it is not uncommon for numerical data to be organized in such a way to find the mean or average, the median or midpoint values the mode that number we see time and time again and our high and low values differences or the range.  This meme has been circulating around social media labeling the guy looking at the other girl as being average. That which supposedly caught his eye is said to be an outlier and original girlfriend is the median. I hope you can take that with a grain of salt. Agree or disagree it is meant to help understand those terms better.

And of course Data can be categorized in different ways. Quannnnnnntitative data (and I am emphasizing the n on purpose - is data collected in some numerical form (counts, mass, time) Qualitative- collected in a non-numerical (quality) form (color, texture, smell). Ordinal data- is data that is collected with some order or pattern (ranking system) and Nominal- is data  collected with no specific order or pattern in mind. 

Once data is collected it is typically put into some graph to better visualize and  understand the relationship between two variables. So you can see here a scatter plot and then a trend line added showing the relationship that as the x variable increases, so too does the y (a positive correlation. Another name for a trend line is a line of regression. Spreadsheets are excellent for create these. And from that interpretation we can sometimes show correlation between those two variables, however correlation does not necessarily extrapolate to causation. S we have two trends in this graph on the left, The divorce rate in Maine over time follows a very close pattern to the consumption of margarine. This does not mean that one caused the other. they correlate but don’t necessarily causate.  Something we have to becarefull we don’t do, or even allow others to fool us with.