Content

INTRODUCTION

Statistics is the study of the collection, analysis, interpretation, presentation,

and organization of data. In applying statistics to, e.g., a scientific, industrial,
or social problem, it is conventional to begin with a statistical population or a
statistical model process to be studied. Populations can be diverse topics
such as "all people living in a country" or "every atom composing a crystal".
Statistics deals with all aspects of data including the planning of data
collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments.

POPULATION

a finite or infinite collection of items under consideration.

Application Of Population
Sometimes what defines a population is obvious. For example, a
manufacturer needs to decide whether a batch of material from production is
of high enough quality to be released to the customer, or should be
sentenced for scrap or rework due to poor quality. In this case, the batch is
the population.

Advantages:

To get the most accurate data

To produce a high quality product to the consumer

Disadvantages:

A company will suffer a financial downfall if they didnt practice population

Takes long time to produce a population data in a company

SAMPLE

A census is often construed as the opposite of a sample as its intent is to

count everyone in a population rather than a fraction. However, population
censuses rely on a sampling frame to count the population. This is the only
way to be sure that everyone has been included as otherwise those not
responding would not be followed up on and individuals could be missed. The
fundamental premise of a census is that the population is not known and a
new estimate is to be made by the analysis of primary data. The use of a
sampling frame is counterintuitive as it suggests that the population size is
already known. However, a census is also used to collect attribute data on
the individuals in the nation. This process of sampling marks the difference
between historical census, which was a house to house process or the
product of an imperial decree, and the modern statistical project. The
sampling frame used by census is almost always an address register. Thus it
is not known if there is anyone resident or how many people there are in
each household. Depending on the mode of enumeration, a form is sent to
the householder, an enumerator calls, or administrative records for the
dwelling are accessed. As a preliminary to the dispatch of forms, census
workers will check any address problems on the ground. While it may seem
straightforward to use the postal service file for this purpose, this can be out
of date and some dwellings may contain a number of independent
households. A particular problem is what are termed 'communal
establishments' which category includes student residences, religious orders,
homes for the elderly, people in prisons etc. As these are not easily
enumerated by a single householder, they are often treated differently and
visited by special teams of census workers to ensure they are classified
appropriately.

Applications of Sampling
Sampling enables the selection of right data points from within the larger
data set to estimate the characteristics of the whole population. For
example, there are about 600 million tweets produced every day. Is it
necessary to look at all of them to determine the topics that are discussed
during the day? Is it necessary to look at all the tweets to determine the
sentiment on each of the topics? In manufacturing different types of sensory
data such as acoustics, vibration, pressure, current, voltage and controller
data are available at short time intervals. To predict down-time it may not be
necessary to look at all the data but a sample may be sufficient.
A theoretical formulation for sampling Twitter data has been developed.

DEFINITION OF CENSUS
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and
recording information about the members of a given population. It is a
regularly occurring and official count of a particular population
A census can be contrasted with sampling in which information is obtained
only from a subset of a population, typically main population estimates are
updated by such intercensal estimates. Modern census data are commonly
used for research, business marketing, and planning, and as a baseline for
designing sample surveys by providing a sampling frame such as an address
register. Census counts are necessary to adjust samples to be representative
of a population by weighting them as is common in opinion polling.
Similarly, stratification requires knowledge of the relative sizes of different
population strata which can be derived from census enumerations. In some
countries, the census provides the official counts used to apportion the
number of elected representatives to regions (sometimes controversially
e.g., Utah v. Evans). In many cases, a carefully chosen random sample can
provide more accurate information than attempts to get a population census

USES OF CENSUS DATA

In the nineteenth century, the first censuses collected paper enumerations
that had to be collated by hand so the statistical uses were very basic. The
government owned the data and were able to publish statistics themselves
on the state of the nation. Uses were to measure changes in the population
and apportion representation. Population estimates could be compared to
those of other countries.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, censuses were recording
households and some indications of their employment. In some countries,
census archives are released for public examination after many decades,
allowing genealogists to track the ancestry of interested people. Archives
provide a substantial historical record which may challenge established
notions of tradition. It is also possible to understand the societal history
through job titles and arrangements for the destitute and sick.

CENSUS DATA AND RESEARCH

As governments assumed responsibility for schooling and welfare, large
government research departments made extensive use of census data.
Actuarial estimates could be made to project populations and plan for
provision in local government and regions. It was also possible for central
government to allocate funding on the basis of census data. Even into the
mid twentieth century, census data was only directly accessible to large
government departments. However, computers meant that tabulations could
be used directly by university researchers, large businesses and local
government offices. They could use the detail of the data to answer new
questions and add to local and specialist knowledge.
Now, census data are published in a wide variety of formats to be accessible
to business, all levels of governance, media, students and teachers, charities
and any citizen who is interested; researchers in particular have an interest
in the role of Census Field Officers (CFO) and their assistants.[19] Data can be
represented visually or analyzed in complex statistical models, to show the
difference between certain areas, or to understand the association between
different personal characteristics. Census data offer a unique insight into
small areas and small demographic groups which sample data would be
unable to capture with precision.

DEFINITION OF SAMPLE SURVEY

A sample survey is a process for collecting data on a sample of observations
which are selected from the population of interest using a probabilitybased sample design. In sample surveys, certain methods are often used to
improve the precision and control the costs of survey data collection.

ADVANTAGES

Relatively easy to administer

Can be developed in less time (compared to other data-collection
methods)
Cost-effective, but cost depends on survey mode
Can be administered remotely via online, mobile devices, mail, email,
kiosk, or telephone.
Conducted remotely can reduce or prevent geographical dependence
Capable of collecting data from a large number of respondents
Numerous questions can be asked about a subject, giving extensive
flexibility in data analysis
With survey software, advanced statistical techniques can be utilized
to analyze survey data to determine validity, reliability, and statistical
significance, including the ability to analyze multiple variables
A broad range of data can be collected (e.g., attitudes, opinions,
beliefs, values, behavior, factual).
Standardized surveys are relatively free from several types of errors

DISADVANTAGES

Respondents may not feel encouraged to provide accurate, honest

answers
Respondents may not feel comfortable providing answers that present
themselves in a unfavorable manner.
Respondents may not be fully aware of their reasons for any given
answer because of lack of memory on the subject, or even boredom.
Surveys with closed-ended questions may have a lower validity rate
than other question types.
Data errors due to question non-responses may exist. The number of
respondents who choose to respond to a survey question may be
different from those who chose not to respond, thus creating bias.

Customized surveys can run the risk of containing certain types of

errors

DEFINITION OF VARIABLE
A variable is any characteristics, number, or quantity that can be measured
or counted. A variable may also be called a data item. Age, sex, business
income and expenses, country of birth, capital expenditure, class grades, eye
colour and vehicle type are examples of variables. It is called a variable
because the value may vary between data units in apopulation, and may
change in value over time.
For example; 'income' is a variable that can vary between data units in a
population (i.e. the people or businesses being studied may not have the
same incomes) and can also vary over time for each data unit (i.e. income
can go up or down).

TYPES OF VARIABLE

There are different ways variables can be described according to the ways
they can be studied, measured, and presented. Numeric variables have
values that describe a measurable quantity as a number, like 'how many' or
'how much'. Therefore numeric variables are quantitative variables.
Numeric variables may be further described as either continuous or discrete:

A continuous variable is a numeric variable. Observations can take any

value between a certain set of real numbers. The value given to an
observation for a continuous variable can include values as small as the
instrument of measurement allows. Examples of continuous variables
include height, time, age, and temperature.
A discrete variable is a numeric variable. Observations can take a value
based on a count from a set of distinct whole values. A discrete variable
cannot take the value of a fraction between one value and the next
closest value. Examples of discrete variables include the number of
registered cars, number of business locations, and number of children in a
family, all of of which measured as whole units (i.e. 1, 2, 3 cars).

The data collected for a numeric variable are quantitative data.

Categorical variables have values that describe a 'quality' or 'characteristic'

of a data unit, like 'what type' or 'which category'. Categorical variables fall
into mutually exclusive (in one category or in another) and exhaustive
(include all possible options) categories. Therefore, categorical variables
are qualitative variables and tend to be represented by a non value.

CATEGORICAL VARIABLES CAN BE DESCRIBED AS

ORDINAL OR NOMINAL:
An ordinal variable is a categorical variable. Observations can take a
value that can be logically ordered or ranked. The categories associated with
ordinal variables can be ranked higher or lower than another, but do not
necessarily establish a numeric difference between each category. Examples
of ordinal categorical variables include academic grades (i.e. A, B, C),
clothing size (i.e. small, medium, large, extra large) and attitudes (i.e.
strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree).
A nominal variable is a categorical variable. Observations can take a
value that is not able to be organized in a logical sequence. Examples of
nominal categorical variables include sex, business type, eye color, religion
and brand.

CONCLUSION