Week 1 — Foundations & Types of Data

Welcome to your Week 1 Start Here page.

Why this matters

Where data come from decides what they can prove. A nurse reading a patient survey and a business owner reading online reviews both need to know who was measured, and how, before trusting the numbers.

In plain language

Statistics is a way to answer a question with data and to be honest about how sure the answer is. This week is about the raw material: where the numbers come from and what kind of numbers they are. You will learn to tell a population (the whole group a question is about) from a sample (the part you actually measure). You will sort every recorded characteristic into its type, because the type decides which summaries make sense. You will also see how the way people are chosen, and the way a study is run, decides what its data can and cannot prove.

• This week: where data come from and what kind of data they are — populations and samples, types of variables, sampling methods, and study designs.
• How they connect: this chapter is the foundation, so there is no earlier week to lean on; every later week uses the vocabulary you build here.
• Where we're going next: Week 2, Summarizing Data with Tables & Graphs, turns these variables into tables and pictures.

Focus

What can data tell you, and what can they not? This week you judge who was measured and how.

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• [ ] tell a population from a sample, and a parameter from a statistic
• [ ] classify a variable by type and level of measurement
• [ ] name a sampling method and spot a biased one
• [ ] tell an observational study from a randomized experiment

To-do

Plan your week

1. Read Chapter 1 (about 35 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes) and the practice set (about 20 minutes).
3. Do the Data Lab (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment.
4. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: classify the eight penguin variables and name the sampling method in a new scenario.

You've got this

Every later week builds on this one. Take it in order, and ask your instructor early if a step snags.

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