| Chapter title |
Descriptive statistics.
|
|---|---|
| Chapter number | 3 |
| Book title |
Topics in Biostatistics
|
| Published in |
Methods in molecular biology, May 2008
|
| DOI | 10.1007/978-1-59745-530-5_3 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Book ISBNs |
978-1-58829-531-6, 978-1-59745-530-5
|
| Authors |
Nick TG, Todd G. Nick, Nick, Todd G. |
| Abstract |
Statistics is defined by the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) thesaurus as the science and art of collecting, summarizing, and analyzing data that are subject to random variation. The two broad categories of summarizing and analyzing data are referred to as descriptive and inferential statistics. This chapter considers the science and art of summarizing data where descriptive statistics and graphics are used to display data. In this chapter, we discuss the fundamentals of descriptive statistics, including describing qualitative and quantitative variables. For describing quantitative variables, measures of location and spread, for example the standard deviation, are presented along with graphical presentations. We also discuss distributions of statistics, for example the variance, as well as the use of transformations. The concepts in this chapter are useful for uncovering patterns within the data and for effectively presenting the results of a project. |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 3 | <1% |
| Unknown | 308 | 99% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Bachelor | 38 | 12% |
| Student > Master | 29 | 9% |
| Researcher | 25 | 8% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 20 | 6% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 9 | 3% |
| Other | 38 | 12% |
| Unknown | 152 | 49% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Business, Management and Accounting | 21 | 7% |
| Social Sciences | 18 | 6% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 15 | 5% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 15 | 5% |
| Engineering | 13 | 4% |
| Other | 72 | 23% |
| Unknown | 157 | 50% |