Appraisal - Chapter 3 notes - Drummond

Question 1

statistic

Answer 1

numerical representation of information

Question 2

descriptive statistics

Answer 2

type of statistics that play a role in interpreting instrument scores; used to describe and summarize large amounts of data

Question 3

frequency

Answer 3

simplest descriptive statistic used in assessment; the count of occurrences of a particular test score

Question 4

mean, median, frequency and mode

Answer 4

3 types of frequencies in assessment

Question 5

inferential statistics

Answer 5

used when we want to make inferences about a large group of people by examining characteristics about randomly selected subgroups from populations

Question 6

populations

Answer 6

large groups of people

Question 7

variable

Answer 7

anything can take on more than one value; can be visible (gender, eye color) or invisible (personality, intelligence or aptitude)

Question 8

measurement

Answer 8

process of assigning numbers or symbols to represent objects, traits or behaviors (variables) according to a set of logical rules

Question 9

scales of measurement

Answer 9

ways in which variables are defined and characterized

Question 10

nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio

Answer 10

4 scales of measurement

Question 11

magnitute

Answer 11

inherent order of numbers form smaller to larger

Question 12

equal intervals

Answer 12

equal distance between adjacent points on the scale

Question 13

absolute/true zero

Answer 13

point representing the absence of the property being measured

Question 14

nominal scale

Answer 14

used to describe qualitative variables that can be categorized based on one or more distinguishing characteristics; only represents names and has non of the 3 qualities of scales of measurement

Question 15

no absolute zero point

Answer 15

no absence of the variable being measured

Question 16

internal locus of control

Answer 16

individuals with this tend to attribute outcomes of events to their own control

Question 17

external locus of control

Answer 17

individuals with this tend to attribute outcomes of events to external circumstances

Question 18

Nowicki-Strickland scale

Answer 18

measures locus of control; low scores indicate internality; high scores indicate externality

Question 19

distribution

Answer 19

a set of scores

Question 20

frequency of distribution

Answer 20

takes a disorganized set of scores and places them in order, usually on a table or graph

Question 21

group

Answer 21

series of scores vs. individual ones; class interval

Question 22

graph

Answer 22

diagram or chart made up of lines, points, bars or other symbols that give a pictorial representation of the distribution of test scores

Question 23

histogram

Answer 23

graph that uses vertical lines and bars to portray distribution of test scores

Question 24

x axis

Answer 24

abscissa; horizontal axis representing class intervals

Question 25

y axis

Answer 25

ordinate axis; represents frequencies of scores appearing at each class interval

Question 26

frequency polygon

Answer 26

variation of the hisotgram; bars are replaced by lines connecting the midpoint of each class interval

Question 27

symmetrical distribution

Answer 27

each side of the curve is a mirror image of the other

Question 28

skewed

Answer 28

frequency curve that's not symmetrical; something out of proportion

Question 29

positively skewed

Answer 29

majority of scores fell near the lower end of scale

Question 30

negatively skewed

Answer 30

majority of students scoring poorly on a test

Question 31

kurtosis

Answer 31

statistic that reflects the peakedness or flatness of a distribution relative to a normal distribution

Question 32

meskurtic, leptokurtic or platykurtic

Answer 32

3 types of distributions

Question 33

measures of central tendency

Answer 33

ways to describe a distribution based on the typical or average performance of test scores

Question 34

mean, median and mode

Answer 34

3 common measures of central tendency

Question 35

mean

Answer 35

the most frequently used measure of central tendency; the arithmetic average score in a distribution; used with interval or ratio scales and whenever additional statistical analysis is needed

Question 36

total the test scores and divide the sum by the number of individuals who took the test

Answer 36

how mean is calculated

Question 37

median

Answer 37

the middle score or the score that divides the distribution in half

Question 38

mode

Answer 38

score of numerical value that appears most frequently in a set of scores

Question 39

outliers

Answer 39

extreme scores

Question 40

variability

Answer 40

degree that scores are spread out and differ from one another

Question 41

measures of variability

Answer 41

statistics that describe the dispersion of scores

Question 42

range, variance and standard deviation

Answer 42

3 commonly used measures of variability

Question 43

range

Answer 43

quick measure of the spread of scores

Question 44

subtracting the lowest score from the highest score

Answer 44

how the range is computed

Question 45

variance

Answer 45

the average amount of variability in the group of scores

Question 46

standard deviation

Answer 46

most frequently used measure of variability; the avg. distance of test scores from the mean

Question 47

normal curve/distribution or bell curve

Answer 47

visual representation of an ideal or theoretical distribution consisting of an infinite number of scores; based on probability theory

Question 48

measure of relationship

Answer 48

shows the degree of relationship or correlation between 2 variables or scors

Question 49

correlation coefficient

Answer 49

statistic used to measure correlation

Question 50

positive correlation

Answer 50

2 variables move in the same direction

Question 51

negative correlation

Answer 51

2 variables move in opposite or inverse directions

Question 52

strength

Answer 52

magnitude of the relationship between 2 variables

Question 53

perfect positive correlation

Answer 53

higher values on one variable directly relate to higher values on the second variable

Question 54

regression

Answer 54

statistical method related to correlation; primarily used for prediction; an analysis of relationships among variables for understanding how 1 variable might predict another

Question 55

simple linear regression

Answer 55

regression analysis used to predict the value of one variable

Question 56

regression line or line of best fit

Answer 56

represents the association between the 2 variables that illustrates the linear relationship between them

Question 57

error

Answer 57

deviation of the points from the line

Question 58

multiple regression

Answer 58

same as a simple linear regression except that it attempts to predict the dependent variable by a set of independent variables

Question 59

factor analysis

Answer 59

analyzes the relationship between variables but not for purposes of predicting a dependent variable; objective it so simplify the description data by reducing the # of necessary variables

Question 60

data-reduction technique

Answer 60

used to analyze relationships between large #'s of variables