17. Statistical Testing (AS)

Question 1

what is the concept of significance?

Answer 1

is the difference between conditions significant or could it have occurred by chance?

Question 2

what is the concept of probability?

Answer 2

in psychology this is your idea used to determine whether a set of results is significant or whether it occurred by chance

Question 3

what is the accepted level of probability?

Answer 3

0.05
this means if the experimental hypothesis is accepted there is less than 5% probability that the results occurred by chance

Question 4

what is the purpose of the probability statistical test?

Answer 4

the test is to determine whether a dataset is significant or not

Question 5

what must the statistical test to do with the calculated value?

Answer 5

it must be compared with the critical value to decide whether the results are significant or not

Question 6

what information is needed to determine the critical value?

Answer 6

the significance level desired usually 0.05
the number of participants in the investigation the n value
whether the hypothesis is directional or non directional

Question 7

give an example of another statistical test in psychology

Answer 7

the sign test

Question 8

how do you calculate the sign test?

Answer 8

pairs of scores for participants placed in the table
subtract the score for condition B from condition A
calculate the total number of pluses and the total number of minuses
participants who achieve the same score in both should be disregarded and taking away from the N value
the calculated value is the total of the less frequent sign

Question 9

comparing the calculated of value with the critical value for all statistical tests does what?

Answer 9

is the calculated value is equal to or less than the relevant critical value in the table then the value is significant and the experimental hypothesis should be retained. the same applies in reverse