CH3 Flashcards
(52 cards)
this term refers to the act of assigning numbers or symbols to characteristics of things (people, events, whatever) according to rules
measurement
what does noir mean?
noir means or is a useful acronym for the levels of measurement
nominal
ordinal
interval
ratio
what is the difference between discrete and continuous variables
discrete variables have a sample space that can be counted but a continuous variable has fractions or numbers with as many decimals as needed
example:
discrete = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
continuous = 1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4
this term refers to the collective influence of all of the factors on a test
score or measurement beyond those specifically measured by the test or measurement
error
JUST THINK:
The scale with which we are all perhaps most familiar is the common bathroom scale. How are a psychological test and a bathroom scale alike?
How are they different? Your answer
may change as you read on.
open-ended but a psychological test can measure the intelligence of a person or rather something intangible
these scales have meaningful distances between numbers
interval scale
JUST THINK:
What are some other examples of interval scales?
grade because you can never get a 0.00
shoe size
do interval scales have an absolute zero point?
no
this term refers to a set of test scores arrayed for recording or study
distribution
JUST THINK:
What are some other examples of ratio scales?
test scores = if 0, no correct answers
battery power = if 0, no more power left
this term refers to a straightforward, unmodified accounting of performance that is usually numerical
raw score
with this, all scores are listed alongside the number of times each score occurred
frequency distribution
in this kind of frequency distribution, test-score intervals replace the actual test scores
grouped frequency distribution
this refers to a diagram or chart composed of lines, points, bars, or other symbols that describe and illustrate data
graph
this is a graph with vertical lines drawn at the true limits of each test score (or class interval), forming a series of contiguous rectangles
histogram
in this type of graph, numbers indicative of frequency also appear on the Y-axis, and reference to some categorization (e.g., yes/no/maybe, male/female) appears on the X-axis
bar graph
this term refers to a statistic that indicates the average or midmost score
between the extreme scores in a distribution
measure of central tendency
in this graph, data is illustrated by a
continuous line connecting the points where test scores or class intervals (as indicated on the X-axis) meet frequencies (as indicated on the Y-axis)
frequency polygon
what is the most commonly used measure of central tendency
the mean or the average
what is the arithmetic mean equal to?
the arithmetic mean is equal to the sum of the observations divided by the number of observations
how do you know the median if the number of scores is an odd number?
the median will be the score that is exactly in the middle, with one-half of the remaining scores lying above it and the other half of the remaining scores lying below it
what is the median?
the median is the middle score in a distribution
how do you know the median if the number of scores is an even number?
the median can be calculated by determining the arithmetic mean of the two middle scores
what is the mode?
the most frequently occurring score in a distribution of scores
