1.
Applications of Biostatistics in Healthcare:
1. Clinical Trials: Biostatistics is crucial in designing, conducting,
and analyzing data from clinical trials to evaluate the safety and
efficacy of new drugs, treatments, or interventions.
2. Epidemiological Studies: Biostatistical methods help in studying
the distribution, determinants, and control of diseases within
populations, providing insights into disease patterns, risk factors, and
trends.
3. Public Health Interventions:Biostatistics aids in assessing the
impact of public health interventions, such as vaccination programs or
health education campaigns, by analyzing data to measure their
effectiveness.
4. Health Services Research: Biostatistics is used to analyze
healthcare delivery systems, assess healthcare quality, and evaluate
healthcare policies to improve patient outcomes and resource
utilization.
5. Predictive Modeling: Biostatistical models are used for predicting
disease outbreaks, assessing the risk of developing certain conditions,
and stratifying patient populations for tailored treatments, contributing
to personalized medicine approaches.
2. Quantitative and Qualitative Data:
Quantitative data:
• The data collected on the grounds of the numerical variables are
quantitative data.
• Quantitative data are more objective and conclusive in nature.
• It measures the values and is expressed in numbers. The data
collection is based on “how much” is the quantity.
• The data in quantitative analysis is expressed in numbers so it
can be counted or measured.
Eg: The data extracted from experiments, surveys, market reports,
matrices, etc.
Qualitative data:
• The data collected on grounds of categorical variables are
qualitative data.
• Qualitative data are more descriptive and conceptual in nature.
• It measures the data on basis of the type of data, collection, or
category.
• The data collection is based on what type of quality is given.
• Qualitative data is categorized into different groups based on
characteristics.
• The data obtained from these kinds of analysis or research is
used in theorization, perceptions, and developing hypothetical
theories.
Eg: The data collected from texts, documents, transcripts, audio
and video recordings, etc.
3. Measures of Central Tendency
• A measure of central tendency (also referred to as measures of
centre or central location) is a summary measure that attempts to
describe a whole set of data with a single value that represents the
middle or centre of its distribution.
• There are three main measures of central tendency:
o Mean
o Median
o Mode
Mean
• The mean represents the average value of the dataset.
• It can be calculated as the sum of all the values in the dataset
divided by the number of values.
• In general, it is considered as the arithmetic mean. Some
other measures of mean used to find the central tendency are
as follows:
• Geometric Mean
• Harmonic Mean
• Weighted Mean
Merits:
• The mean can be used for both continuous and
discrete numeric data.
Demirts:
• The mean cannot be calculated for categorical data, as
the values cannot be summed.
• As the mean includes every value in the distribution
the mean is influenced by outliers and skewed
distributions.
Median
• Median is the middle value of the dataset in which the
dataset is arranged in the ascending order or in descending
order.
• When the dataset contains an even number of values, then
the median value of the dataset can be found by taking the
mean of the middle two values.
Merits:
• The median is less affected by outliers and skewed
data than the mean
• It is usually the preferred measure of central tendency
when the distribution is not symmetrical.
Demirts:
• The median cannot be identified for categorical
nominal data, as it cannot be logically ordered.
Mode
• The mode represents the frequently occurring value in the
dataset.
• Sometimes the dataset may contain multiple modes and in
some cases, it does not contain any mode at all.
Merits:
It can be found for both numerical and categorical (non-
numerical) data.
Demirts:
• It is also possible for there to be more than one mode for
the same distribution of data, (bi-modal, or multi-modal).
• In some cases, particularly where the data are continuous,
the distribution may have no mode at all (i.e. if all values
are different), it may be better to consider using the
median or mean or group the data into appropriate
intervals and find the modal class.
