What is Statistics?

What are some of the topics that we study in Statistics?

What is the role of Probability Theory in Statistics?

Learning Objectives

collect

process

store

describe

model

Recap: What is Data Science?

Knowledge of Statistics is required for collecting, processing, describing and modelling data!

Statistics is the science of collecting, describing and drawing inferences from data

collect

describe

model

What is Statistics?

model

drawing inferences

*The purpose of modelling here is to draw inferences about the data (underlying distribution, relationships, etc.

Key Terms and Definitions

In Statistics we are always, interested in studying a large collection of people or objects

Opinion Poll: What proportion of the citizens support candidate XYZ ?

Challenge: Infeasible (expensive) to survey all citizens

In Statistics we are always, interested in studying a large collection of people or objects

Car Testing: What is the average mileage of cars produced in a factory?

Challenge: Expensive to test all cars

Key Terms and Definitions

In Statistics we are always, interested in studying a large collection of people or objects

Survey: Is there a lot of variation in the yield of paddy farms in a state?

Challenge: Not enough resources to survey all farms

Key Terms and Definitions

Solution: Survey only a few elements and draw inferences about all elements from this smaller group

Key Terms and Definitions

A population is the total collection of all objects that we are interested in studying

A sample is a subgroup of the population that we study to draw inferences about the population

Population

Sample

Key Terms and Definitions

We are typically interested in estimating some parameter of the population

- proportion of citizens in favour of a candidate

Key Terms and Definitions

- average mileage of cars produced in a factory

- variance in the yield of farms in a state

This quantity estimated from a small sample is called a statistic

- proportion, mean, median, standard deviation, variance when computed from a sample is called a statistic

Key Terms and Definitions

A parameter is any numeric property of the entire population under study

A statistic is any numerical property of the sample of a population which is used as an estimate for the corresponding parameter of the population

Population

Sample

Key Terms and Definitions

parameter

statistic

Population

Sample

Key Terms and Definitions

parameter

statistic

These are the four most fundamental concepts in Statistics

In the remaining slides we will go over  a series of questions that we will answer in this course

Population

Sample

How to select a sample?

What if we select a sample containing only university students?

What if we select a sample containing all cars produced in Unit1 (and none from the other 4 units)

What if we select farms which are near to a city and hence easier to reach?

Population

Bad Sample

How to select a sample?

What if we select a sample containing only university students?

Such a sample will not be representative of the population

A sample and the resulting statistic will be useful only if it is representative of the population

Population

Sample

How to select a sample?

Simple random sampling

What will you learn in this course?

Stratified Sampling

Cluster Sampling

How to design an experiment to collect data?

select a group of volunteers/subjects

measure their cholesterol level today

ask them to consume 5 walnuts/day for 3 mths

measure their cholesterol after 3 months

How do you go about answering this question?

Does eating 5-7 walnuts a day for 3 months reduce cholesterol level?

How to design an experiment to collect data?

What if some members take up physical exercise and hence their cholesterol level decreases?

What is wrong with the above approach?

What if some members take up smoking and hence their cholesterol level increases?

Does eating 5-7 walnuts a day for 3 months reduce cholesterol level?

How to design an experiment to collect data?

While studying the effect of one variable (walnut) on another (cholesterol level) we must ensure that we nullify the effect of lurking variables (smoking, exercise, etc.)

Does eating 5-7 walnuts a day for 3 months reduce cholesterol level?

How to design an experiment to collect data?

Does eating 5-7 walnuts a day for 3 months reduce cholesterol level?

Randomised control experiments

What will you learn in this course?

explanatory, response and lurking variables

treatments, control groups, placebo

single blind and double blind experiments

How to describe and summarise data?

How do I analyse Netflix users' data?

User Id Age Group # of hours per month
00001 20-25 21
00002 30-35 15
00003 30-35 31
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
04000 20-25 41

4000 rows

How to describe and summarise data?

User Id Age Group # of hours per month
00001 20-25 21
00002 30-35 15
00003 30-35 31
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
04000 20-25 41

In this tabular format it is very difficult answer even simple questions

What is the minimum/maximum number of hours that a user in the 20-25 age group spend on watching TV shows?

Are there more users in the lower range (10-15 hours per month) or in the higher range (80-90 hours per month) ?

Is the data clustered at the centre (most users in the 45-50 hours range and very few at the the 2 extremes) ?

How to describe and summarise data?

Drawing plots and computing summary statistics allows us to quickly get a feel for the data

5              50            100 

              (hours)

mean

median

mode

std. deviation

variance

How to describe and summarise data?

How do I analyse Netflix users' data?

Descriptive Statistics

What will you learn in this course?

(relative) frequency charts, frequency polygons, histograms, stem-and-leaf plots, box plots, scatter plots, etc.

measures of centrality and spread

Why do we need Probability Theory?

A sampling strategy is said to be truly random (unbiased) if every element in the population has an equal chance of becoming a part of the sample

Population

Good Sample

Bad Sample

Why do we need Probability Theory?

What do we mean by chance?

The branch of Mathematics that deals with chances and probabilities is called Probability Theory

Population

Good Sample

Bad Sample

Why do we need Probability Theory?

In how many different ways can you create a sample of size 2 from a population of size 10?

Population (10 elements)

Sample      (2 elements)

(90 ways)

If you observe some trend in this small sample what is the chance that you will observe a similar trend in other samples or the entire population!

Why do we need Probability Theory?

Population (10K elements)

Sample      (100 elements)

(6.5*10^241 ways)

If you estimate a mean from this small sample what is the chance that the mean of the entire population is close to this mean!

... ... ...

... ... ...

Why do we need Probability Theory?

Population (10K elements)

Sample      (100 elements)

... ... ...

... ... ...

Introduction to Probability Theory

What will you learn in this course?

sample spaces, event, axioms of probability

discrete and continuous random variables

Bernoulli, Uniform and Normal distribution

How do we give guarantees for estimates made from a sample?

Population (10 students)

Diff. Samples  (2 students)

1

2

3

4

5

Estimated mean height

130

148

152

156

175

How do we give guarantees for estimates made from a sample?

Diff. Samples  (2 students)

1

2

3

... ...

90

The mean itself has a probability distribution (different values of the mean have different chances of being observed)

130

148

152

156

175

... ...

mean height

How do we give guarantees for estimates made from a sample?

Diff. Samples  (2 students)

1

2

3

... ...

90

... ...

if the mean computed from a single sample is x can you give an interval such that you are 95% sure that the mean of the population lies in this interval

Point Estimate

Interval Estimate

How do we give guarantees for estimates made from a sample?

Diff. Samples  (2 students)

1

2

3

... ...

90

... ...

What will you learn in this course?

point estimates

distributions of sampling statistics

interval estimates

What is a hypothesis and how do we test it?

100

85

87

90

98

Bumrah bowling speed (mph)

81

Hypothesis: The mean bowling speed of Bumrah is greater than 90 mph

What's the big deal? I can see from the sample that this is true!

Caveat: We are estimating from a sample (what if Bumrah got lucky and this sample was good)

What is a hypothesis and how do we test it?

100

85

87

90

98

Bumrah bowling speed (mph)

81

Recall: the mean itself has a  distribution (different samples, different means)

I reject the hypothesis that the mean speed of Bumrah is greater than 90 mph because there is a 25% chance that I might get a sample in which the mean speed is greater than 90 mph even if the true mean is less than 95 mph

85

100

70

What is a hypothesis and how do we test it?

Hypothesis (two populations): The mean yield per acre by using fertiliser X is greater than fertiliser Y

Fertiliser X

Fertiliser Y

I reject the hypothesis because there is a 20% chance that I might get a sample in which the mean yield of fertiliser X is greater than fertiliser Y even when that is not true for the population

What is a hypothesis and how do we test it?

Hypothesis (multiple populations): A vegan diet with a yoga based workout is most effective for improving fitness

Yoga Cross fit
Vegan
Vegetarian
Non-vegetarian

What is a hypothesis and how do we test it?

Yoga Cross fit
Vegan
Vegetarian
Non-vegetarian

Hypothesis testing

What will you learn in this course?

single population, two populations, multiple populations

z-tests, t-tests, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)

How to model relationships between variables?

What is the relationship between number of days of treatment and cholesterol level?

Statistical modelling

y = mx + c

decrease in cholesterol level

number of days of treatment

Assume a simple relationship between the variables

How to model relationships between variables?

# of days of treatment

decrease in cholesterol

Estimate parameters (m and c) from data

Patient Id # of days of treatment decrease in cholesterol
00001 75 15
00002 90 25
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
00100 45 -5

Statistical modelling

How to model relationships between variables?

# of days of treatment

decrease in cholesterol

Deal with uncertainty (remember m and c are estimated from a sample, not population)

Are we 99% sure that the value of m estimated from this sample lies within a small neighbourhood around the true value of m?

Statistical modelling

How to model relationships between variables?

# of days of treatment

decrease in cholesterol

Linear Regression

What will you learn in this course?

estimating parameters

estimating confidence bands

measuring goodness-of-fit

How wells does the model fit the data?

Hypothesis: In cricket, the five ways* of getting dismissed are equally likely

* ignoring rarer ways of getting dismissed

0.2

Probability

caught .     lbw     . bowled   stumped  run out .

Probability

Model

How well does this model fit the data?

How wells does the model fit the data?

Estimate probabilities from data (say last 100 dismissals: sample)

* ignoring rarer ways of getting dismissed

caught .     lbw     . bowled   stumped  run out .

Estimated from data

How well does this model fit the data?

0.2

Probability

How wells does the model fit the data?

* ignoring rarer ways of getting dismissed

caught .     lbw     . bowled   stumped  run out .

Estimated from data

Are the variations observed in the sample significant or due to random chance?

0.2

Probability

0.2

Probability

caught .     lbw     . bowled   stumped  run out .

Probability

Model

How wells does the model fit the data?

0.2

Probability

caught .     lbw     . bowled   stumped  run out .

Probability

Model

Chi-square test

What will you learn in this course?

determine goodness-of-fit

determine if 2 variables are independent

List of Topics

Descriptive Statistics

Probability Theory

Inferential Statistics

Different types of data

Different types of plots

Measures of centrality and spread

Sample spaces, events, axioms

Discrete and continuous RVs

Bernoulli, Uniform, Normal dist.

Sampling strategies

Interval Estimators

Hypothesis testing (z-test, t-test)

ANOVA, Chi-square test

Linear Regression

What is Statistics? Key Terms

What is Statistics? Key Terms

What is Statistics?

By One Fourth Labs

What is Statistics?

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