Statistics in Nursing

Research

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 DEFINITION
▫ Statistics is the science of making effective use of numerical  data 
which is related to collection, analysis and interpretation of data.
 Statistics is the study of how to collect, organizes, analyze, and
Interpret data.

IMPORTANCE
• Statistics plays a vitally important role in the research.
• It help to answer important research questions and field in study.
• Helps you understand how to apply statistical method
• Important to understand what tools are suitable for a particular
research study.
• Statistics enables to understand specified statistical concepts
and procedures.
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TYPES OF STATISTICS

There are two approaches to the statistical analysis of data 

1. Descriptive Statistics
 Descriptive statistics are techniques which help the investigator
to organize, summarize and describe measures of a sample. 
2. Inferential statistics
The inferential approach helps to decide whether the outcome
of the study is a result of factors planned within design of the
study or determined by chance.
(Streiner & Norman, 1996).

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FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTIONS

Frequency distribution is a systematic

arrangement of values from lowest to highest or a
method of organizing numeric data
No.s (x) Frequency
22 23 25 (f)
23 16 20
15 l
15 24 23
24 23 16 16 ll
23 18 22 18 l
20 25 25
20 ll
22 ll
23 llll
24 ll
25 lll
 Σ f = 18
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PRESENTATION OF DATA & SHAPES
▫ Tabular presentation
▫ Diagrammatic Presentation
▫ Graphical Presentation
A. Tabular Presentation of Data
▫ Arranging values in columns is called tabulation.
▫ E.g. The amount of oxygen content in water samples
B.  Diagrammatic Presentation of data
▫ It is a visual form of presentation of statistical data in which data are
presented in the form of diagrams such as bars, lines, circles, maps
▫ Common Types
▫ Line Diagram
▫ Pie diagram
▫ Bar diagram
c. Line diagram 

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 SHAPES OF FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION

Distribution are shown in Graphically. Graphs denotes the

information of complete data in different shapes

1. Histograms: A histogram is
constructed by drawing bars

2. Polygons: polygons

use dots connected by straight lines
to show frequencies.

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3. Symmetric distribution (Normal )
It consist of two halves that are mirror images of
one another.

4. Asymmetric or Skewed distribution

It is off center and one tail is longer than the other
-When the longer tail points to the right,
If the tail points to the left, the distribution
the distribution is positively skewed. is negatively skewed,

A distribution with the modal peak off to one side or the other is
described as skewed. The word skew literally means "slanted."

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5. Unimodal distribution
It has only one peak or high point
• (i.e., a value with small / high frequency),

6. Multimodal distribution
It has two or more peaks
(i.e., values of high frequency).

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STATISTICS & DATA ANALYSIS
Measures of central tendency
Mean
Mode
Median
Measures of variability
Range
Standard deviation
Correlation
Inferential statistics
T- test
Chi square test
ANOVA

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CENTRAL TENDENCY
It is a statistical measure that identifies a single
score as representative for an entire distribution or
group.
Measures of Central Tendency

1. Mean
2. Mode
3. Median
Levels of measure used:
Interval level variables - Mean
Nominal variables - Mode
Ordinal variables - Median
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1. Mean

• The mean (or average) is adding all the numbers and then
divided by the number of observations in the data set.

Example: 3,4,5,6,7
▫ 3+4+5+6+7= 25, 25 N=5 The mean = 5

Exercise 1.
What is the average of these numbers?
567, 432, 902, 693, 356, 996

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 2. Mode
The mode in a set of data is the number that occurs
the most. E.g 25 10 10 25 5 10 25 10 5
Exercise 2: Find the mode of these numbers.
100 95 100 90 75 100 85 95
3. Median
The median is a set of data , which is the middle
number. Also arrange all the data from lowest to highest and
then take the middle number.
E.g : odd : 3, 5, 8, 10, 11  median=8
even: 3, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8  median=(4+5)/2=4.5
Exercise 3: Find the median
1. 67 34 85 33 84 & 2. 12 14 16 18
19 20
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CENTRAL TENDENCY AND THE SHAPE OF THE
DISTRIBUTION
Relationship between mean, median, and mode is
determined by the shape of the distribution

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 VARIABILITY (Disperson)
Variability provides a quantitative measure of the degree to which scores in a distribution are
spread out or clustered
together.
If data has two distributions (Bivariante) with the same mean known as variability and have
different shapes.

Measure of variability or Disperson

Range
Standard deviation
Correlation & co-efficient

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 Range
It is the difference between the lowest and highest
number in the set.
Range = Xhighest – Xlowest

E.g: SAT scores of students at two nursing schools. Both distributions

have a mean of 500, but the score patterns are different. School A has
a wide range of scores, with some below 300 and some above 700. This
school has many students who performed among the best also many
students who scored well below average. In school B, there are few
students at either extreme.

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STANDARD DEVIATION

 Standard deviation is the most common measure of variability.

 It is used the mean as a reference point and approximates the
average distance of each score from the mean.
• A deviation (x) is the difference between an individual score
and the mean.

• VARIANCE
▫ The variance is simply the value of the standard
deviation before a square root has been taken

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Formulas of standard Deviation
Standard Deviation (s or SD)* is

- 1st column is mean (X) = 7

- 2nd column = (X - X )
- 3rd column each score is squared
( X – X )2

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CORRELATION
Correlation is a measure of association between two
variables. Correlations can be graphed on scatter plot or
scatter diagram
Scatter plot: It involves making a rectangular
coordinate graph with the two variables laid out at right
angles. plot (dots) are shown to help identify subjects.

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Positive Correlations : If the dots begins at the lower left corner and
extends to the upper right corner, the relationship is positive .
Correlations fall between .00 and 1.00 are positive

Negative Correlations: Dots from the upper left corner to the lower
right corner, the relationship is Negative. Correlations that fall
between .00 and 1.00 are negative,

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CORRELATION COEFFICIENT (PEARSON’S – R)
Correlation coefficients can be computed with
two variables measured on either the ordinal, interval,
or ratio scale

Pearson’s

Calculation…..
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 INFERENTIAL STATISTICS
• Inferential statistics is a statistical method used to infer result s
of sample (statistic) to population (parameter).
 It is a process of inductive reasoning based on the mathematical
theory of probability
- (Fowler, J., Jarvis, P. -2002).
• Component of inferential statistics.
▫ Hypothesis testing
▫ Estimation

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 Error and Hypothesis testing
The standard deviation of a sampling distribution of mean is
called the Standard Error of the Mean (SEM).
Error
various means in the sampling distribution have some error as
estimates of the population mean
SEM (symbolized as Sx)

If we use this formula to calculate the SEM for an SD of 100

with a sample of 25 students we obtain

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Type I error ()
Accepting the experimental hypothesis when the null hypothesis
is true
Type II error ()
Accepting the null hypothesis when the experimental hypothesis
is true
Errors
Reject H0 Don't reject H0

H0 Type I Error Right decision

Truth
H1 Right decision Type II Error

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Hypothesis testing

• A study was conducted to determine the difference of knowledge score of

hypertension between male and female adults in Bandar A. the result
revealed t statistic 2.678, df 99, P value was 0.009(level of significance set at
0.05) and mean difference 1.14
• Hypothesis
▫ HO: there is no difference of knowledge score of hypertension
between male and female adults in Bandar A
▫ HA: there is the differences of knowledge score of hypertension between
male and female adults in Bandar A
• Interpret the result
▫ P=0.009, α=0.05, p<α. Reject HO
• conclusion
▫ There is difference of knowledge score of hypertension between male and
female adults in Bandar A

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ESTIMATION

It is used to estimate a single parameter, like a mean.

Estimation can take in to two forms.

Forms:
Point estimation : Point estimation involves calculating a
single statistic to estimate the population parameter.
Point estimates convey no information about accuracy
Interval estimation : it indicates a range of values within
which the parameter has a specified probability of lying

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STATISTICAL TESTS

There are two types of inferential statistics

1. Parametric
2. Non-parametric Tests

1. Parametric Tests
A parametric test is one which specifies certain conditions
about the parameter of the population from which a sample is taken.
E.g t-test, and F-test (ANOVA)

2. Non-parametric tests (Distribution-free Statistics)

A non-parametric test is one does not specify any conditions
about the parameter of the population from which the population is
drawn. These tests are called.
E.g Chi-squire test
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T- TEST (Student’s t).

• It is used to testing the differences in group s of mean

• t-test can be used when there are two independent groups
(e.g., experimental versus control, male versus female),
Degree of freedom (df)
• Degree of freedom (df) is describes the number of events or observations
that are free to vary.
Formula
t-Test Degrees of freedom (df)

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Example:
Maternity patients on perceived maternal competence. We
administer a scale of perceived maternal competence at
discharge to 10 primiparas who remained in the hospital 48 to
72 hours (group A, regular discharge) and to 10 primiparas
discharged less than 48 hours after delivery (group B, early
discharge). The mean scale scores for these two groups are
25.0 and 19.0,

nA = 10 number of subjects in group A

nB =10 number of subjects in group B
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Degrees of freedom :

df = [(10 + 10) - 2] = 18
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THE CHI-SQUARE TEST (Analyzing Frequencies)
 The chi-squire test is used when the data are expressed in
terms of
frequencies of proportions or percentages.
 The chi-square statistic is computed by comparing observed
frequencies and expected frequencies
FORMULAS
Chi-square

Degrees of freedom (df) = [(R 1)(C 1)].

Calculation…….
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Analysis of variance (ANOVA)
It is another commonly used parametric procedure for testing

differences between means where there are three or more

groups.
The statistic computed in an ANOVA is the F-ratio , variation

within groups to get an F-ratio.

Types
One way Anova,
MEAN two(MS)
SQUARE way ANOVA, multifactor
F- Ratio ANOVA

Formulas

Calculation…..
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 TYPES of ANOVA

• One-way ANOVA
▫ It is used with one independent variable and one dependent variable).
• Two-way ANOVA or Factorial Analysis of Variance
▫ Factorial analysis of variance permits the investigator to analyze the
effects of two or more independent variables on the dependent
variable.
• Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA)
▫ It is an inferential statistical test that enables investigators t adjusts
statistically for group differences that may interfere with obtaining
results that relate specifically to the effects of the independent
variable(s) on the dependent variable(s).
• Multivariate Analysis
▫ Multivariate analysis refers to a group of inferential statistical tests that
enable the investigator to examine multiple variables simultaneously. 

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Thank You