Psychology 202 - Test 1 Flashcards

1
Q

data

A

information

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2
Q

statistics

A

branch of mathematics focused on organization, analysis, and interpretation of a group of numbers

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3
Q

descriptive statistics

A

used to describe a group of numbers from a study

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4
Q

inferential

A

used to draw conclusions from collected data

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5
Q

variable

A

characteristic of something or someone that can have different vaules
i.e. people, [usually] mind

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6
Q

constant

A

if the characteristic does not/can not vary

- dependent on perspective

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7
Q

values

A

numbr or category

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8
Q

score

A

particular value on a variable

- tells how much there is of what is being measured

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9
Q

equal-interval variable

A

a variable in which the numbers stand for approximately equal amounts of what is being measured
i.e. in stress rating, difference between 4 & 6 is the same as the difference between 7 & 9

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10
Q

ratio scale

A

used if the equal-interval variable has an absolute zero point
i.e. number of siblings > zero means something and is important

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11
Q

absolute zero point

A

value of zero on the variable indicates complete absence of the variable
i.e. number of siblings > zero = no siblings

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12
Q

rank order variable

A

a variable where numbers stand ONLY for the relative ranking

  • ordinal variables
  • provides less info/less accurate than equal-interval but sometimes easier/only info available
    i. e. olympics (1,2,3) but 1 & 2 can be close while three was far behind them
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13
Q

nominal variable

A

variable in which the values differ as names or categories

i. e. favorite sports team
* can go from nominal to numeric but not the other way around

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14
Q

discrete variable

A

specific values and nothing in between

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15
Q

continuous variable

A

has infinite number of values in between any two values

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16
Q

population

A

the entire group of people that is studied

- can range from small to the entire world depending on the question

17
Q

sample

A

a subset of the population

  • small/more manageable group to study
  • (hopefully) identical to population > generalizability
18
Q

frequency table

A

table that lists all values that are possible along with the number of cases that have that value

19
Q

relative frequency table

A

tells frequency AND frequency relative to other scores

- divide number of cases in each value by total number of cases

20
Q

histogram

A

graphic representatio of frequency of scores

  • x = possible values
  • y = number of cases
21
Q

number of peaks (histogram)

A

1 peak = unimodal
2 peaks = bimodal
3+ peaks = multimodal

22
Q

symmetrical distributions

A

roughly equal scores on both sides of the peak

23
Q

skewed distributions

A

unequal scores on each side of the peak

  • positively skewed > more scores on left side
  • negatively skewed > more scores on the right side
24
Q

normal curve

A

symmetrical, bell shaped curve that has changes in curve direction at exactly 1 standard deviation above and 1 standard deviation below the mean

  • theoretical distribution
  • mode, median, and mean are all exactly the same number
  • Middle point = average point = most frequent point
  • more scores you have = closer you get to normal distribution
  • assume data would look like normal curve if we had enough
  • 68.2% = 1 SD
  • 95.4% = 2 SD
  • 99.7% = 3 SD
25
platykurtic
most values have roughly the same frequency | - upside down plate
26
leptokurtic
very few values have a high frequency | - tower
27
measure of central tendency
single number that we use to describe a distribution of scores - representative of all scores
28
mean
mathematical average of a group of scores - μ = population, M = sample - mean = Σx/N - most stable measure of central tendency - takes all scores into account - can be value no one got - incredibly sensative to outliers
29
mode
most frequent score in a distribution - only measure that can be used with nominal data - says nothing about other scores - doesn't tell the placement of the score
30
median
score in the middle of a distribution - scores in order from smallest to largest and find middle score - can be the same as mode - can be score no one has/received - does not mean there is equality in the range
31
variability
the amount of variation in a distribution of scores
32
range
the difference between the highest and lowest score - very unstable - no additional stats calculated
33
variance
measure of variability that considers how different each score in a distribution is from the mean - extremely important in stats - population = δ - sample = SD - variance = Σ(x - M)²/N - SS = Σ(x - μ)²
34
standard deviation
the average amount that a set of scores differ from one another (how much scores vary) - population = - sample = SD - standard deviation = √Σ(x - μ)²/N
35
z-score
number of standard deviations above or below the mean an actual score is - standardizes scores - z = (x - M)/SD
36
z-scores > percent to value
- go to closest percent - find percent and look at corresponding z-score - invert z-score equation