14. Descriptive Statistics Flashcards
What are descriptive statistics ?
The use of graphs, tables and summary statistics to identify trends and analyse sets of data
What are measures of central tendency?
The general term for any measure of the average value in a set of data
What are the measures of central tendency?
Mean
Median
More
What is the mean ?
Average calculated by adding up all the values in a set of data then dividing it by the number of values there are
What is the median ?
The central value in a set of data when values are arranged from lowest to highest
What is the mode ?
The most frequently occurring value in a set of data
What are measures of dispersion ?
The general term for the measure of the spread in a set of scores
What is the range ?
A calculation of the dispersion worked out by subtracting the lowest number from the highest and adding 1
What is meant by standard deviation ?
It tells us how much scores deviate from the mean
What can you infer from a large standard deviation ?
The larger the standard deviation, the greater the spread within a set of data. It may also be that there were a few anomalous results
What can we infer from a low standard deviation ?
Reflects that the data is tightly clustered around the mean which might imply that all participants responded in a similar way
