Module 4: Statistical Reading in Everyday Life

Question 1

big, round, “nice” numbers should be

Answer 1

doubted

Question 2

precise numbers are

Answer 2

more credible

Question 3

graphs can be misleading because

Answer 3

scales can be manipulated to make differences seem greater

Question 4

measure of central tendency

Answer 4

single score that represents a whole set of scores

Question 5

mode

Answer 5

most frequently occuring score

Question 6

mean

Answer 6

arithmetic average

Question 7

median

Answer 7

middle score

Question 8

range

Answer 8

gap between lowest and highest scores

Question 9

smaller range implies

Answer 9

higher reliability

Question 10

large range means

Answer 10

less reliability OR

few extremes in an otherwise uniform group

Question 11

standard deviation

Answer 11

computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score

Question 12

standard deviation =

Answer 12

sq. root [ (sum of deviations)^2 / # of scores ]

Question 13

normal curve

Answer 13

symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes distribution of many types of data
most scores fall near the mean, fewer and fewer towards extremes

Question 14

when is an observed difference significant?

Answer 14

if averages from samples are reliable measures of respective populations
larger difference, more likely to be true

Question 15

statistical significance

Answer 15

statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance
indicates likelihood of result, not importance