Chapter 1- Intro to Statistics: Textbook Material

Question 1

constructs

Answer 1

internal attitudes and characteristics that cannot be directly observed but are useful for describing and explaining behavior

ex. hunger, motivation, anxiety

Question 2

operational definitions

Answer 2

• describes a set of operations for measuring a construct
• it defines the construct in terms of the resulting measurements.

ex. rosenberg self-esteem scale

Question 3

Real limits (upper real limits and lower real limits)

Answer 3

• real limits are the boundaries of intervals for scores that are represented on a continuous number line
• the real limit separating two adjacent scores is located exactly halfway between the scores
• each score has two real limits
• the upper real limit is at the top of the interval, and the lower real limit is at the bottom

Question 4

descriptive research/descriptive research strategy

Answer 4

• involves measuring 1 or more separate variables for each individual with the intent of simply describing each individuals variables

typically for non-numerical scores a percentage/proportion for each category is found

Question 5

correlational method

Answer 5

two different variables are observed to determine whether there is a relationship between them

two variables, one group

the correlational method cannot determine a cause/effect between the variables

Question 6

nonequivalent groups study

Answer 6

• non-experiemental study that compares preexisting groups (the researcher cannot control the assignment of participants to groups and cannot ensure equivalent groups)

Question 7

pre-post study

Answer 7

• uses the passage of time (before/after) to create groups of scores
• the dependent variable changing could always be because of time passing in these non-experimental studies
• the researcher also has no control over other variables that change with time (ex. weather conditions improving)

Question 8

quasi-independent variable

Answer 8

In a nonexperimental study, the “independent variable” that is used to create the different groups of scores

Question 9

X (and Y)

Answer 9

• X is typically used to represent scores of a particular variable
• Y is also used if there is more than one variable

Question 10

N and n

Answer 10

• The letters N and n are used to specify the number of scores in a set
• N is used for population, n is used for samples