Biostatistics for beginners in the university PDF

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great experince in getting the fist lecture which constitute about the introduction of biostatistics. Focus mainly on the data collections....

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UNIVERSITY OF CAPE

SCHOOL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY COURSE CODE: BIO 312 COURSE TITLE: BIOSTATISTICS INDEX NUMBER: BS/MBB/18/0047 DATE: 2 2ND JULY 2021 QUESTION Discuss the importance of statistics to you as a biologist.

sStatistics can be defined as collection, organization, summarization and analysis of data, drawing of inferences about a body of data when only a part of the data is observed. Statistics can be applied to biological problems, including: public health, medicine, and ecological and environmental research. The field of statistics provides some of the most fundamental tools and techniques of the scientific method: Forming hypothesis, designing experiments and observational studies, gathering data, summarizing data, drawing inferences from data (testing hypothesis). These fundamental tools and techniques help biologists correctly prepare experiments, verify conclusions and properly interpret results which makes statistics very important to biologist. Bio statistics can be defined as the application of statistical methods to solve biological problems. In biostatics, the statistical methods are applied to solve biological problems. Basic understanding of biostatistics is necessary for the study of biology particularly doing research in biological science. The statistics will help biologist to understand the nature of variability and helps in deriving general laws from small samples. Research is incomplete without statistics. This is because every result (data) in the research needs to be statistically validated. Any research in life sciences is proposed to answer a scientific question we might have. To answer this question with a high certainty, we need accurate results. The correct definition of the main hypothesis and the research plan will reduce errors while taking a decision in understanding a phenomenon. As a biologist statistic is important when forming hypothesis, a proposed outcome or explanation for an observation to ensure the integrity and veracity of an experiment. Once the aim of the study is defined, the possible answers to the research question can be proposed, transforming this question into a hypothesis. The purpose of statistical inference is to

draw conclusions about a population on the basis of data obtained from a sample of that population. After forming your hypothesis its needs to be tested. Hypothesis testing is the process used to evaluate the strength of evidence from the sample and provides a framework for making determinations related to the population, that is it provides a method for understanding how reliably one can extrapolate observed findings in a sample under study to the larger population from which the sample was drawn. The biologist uses the formed hypothesis to evaluates data from the sample, and uses these data to decide whether they support the hypothesis. After research and forming of hypothesis a biologist needs to collects data to enable him or her perform their experiments. Statistics helps biologist in data collection by preemptively identifying the statistical test(s) you want to employ to help answer your research question(s), hopefully you know what sort of data needs to be collected. Where statistics comes in handy is helping you identify key aspects you may not have considered in your chosen methods of data collection. Such may come in the form of identifying an additional variable of importance to collect data on. Another pitfall statistics can help you avoid is that of pseudo replication. Sampling bias can also be avoided when considering the statistical test, you hope to use. Statistics helps biologist to carry out experiments easily by sampling which increases their chances of performing a lot of experiments and reduces cost. Sampling is a process used in statistical analysis in which a predetermined number of observations are taken from a larger population. It is not possible to take the measures from all the elements of a population. Because of that, the sampling process is very important for statistical inference. In sampling, we assume that samples are drawn from the population and sample means and population means are equal. Example: when a biologist wants to perform some test using a blood sample, the biologist takes a

small blood sample from the whole population of blood and performs all the test he or she wants with just the sample of blood and not necessarily all the blood in the preferred organism. In a nut shell, Statistics can be applied to biological problems, including: public health,

medicine, and ecological and environmental research. The field of statistics provides some of the most fundamental tools and techniques of the scientific method: Forming hypothesis, designing experiments and observational studies, gathering data, summarizing data, drawing inferences from data (testing hypothesis). These fundamental tools and techniques help biologists correctly prepare experiments, verify conclusions and properly interpret results which makes statistics very important to biologist.

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