Understanding statistics

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	Australian Bureau of Statistics


Module 1: Producing data


	Lesson 1.	Introduction to module 1

	Lesson 2.	Defining data
		2.1	Data: Numbers in context
		2.2	Variables and units of population
		2.3	Data and variation

	Lesson 3.	Sources of data
		3.1	Use of available data
			i.	Anecdotal evidence
			ii.	Pre-existing data
		3.2	Generating your own data
			3.2.1	Understanding Population and sample
				i.	Population
				ii.	Sample
				iii.	Defining a population
			3.2.2	Generating data from observation
				i.	Case studies and surveys
				ii.	The features of a good survey
				iii.	Sampling a population
				iv.	Types of sampling used to generate data
				v.	Using samples
				vi.	Representativeness of a sample to a population
				vii.	Ensuring samples are not biased
				viii.	Margin of error
			3.2.3	Generating data from experimentation
				i.	Explanatory and response variables
				ii.	Ethics and experimental and observational studies
				iii.	Influence of extraneous or confounding variables
				iv.	Controlling confounding variables
		3.3	Selecting a method to produce data
	End Notes Source Materials

This page last updated 25 November 2009

Australian Bureau of Statistics