Psychology - Research methods - Factors affeting choice of statistical tests

Question 1

What do Descriptive statistics do?

Answer 1

Give summaries of data that we have collected from our research and an indication of what the statistical analysis may reveal. Levels of measurements are used.

Question 2

Levels of measurement

Answer 2

Used to try to categorise our data into one of four types so we can select the most appropriate statistical test to analyse results.

Question 3

What are the levels of measurements?

Answer 3

Nominal, Ordinal, Interval

Question 4

Nominal level of measurement

Answer 4

Data consists of the numbers of participants that might fall into different categories and a person can be placed in one category only.

Question 5

Ordinal levels of measurements

Answer 5

Data can be placed in rank order from lowest to highest. ordinal scale can consist of measurements that are of unequal intervals.

Question 6

Interval level of measurements

Answer 6

Data has fixed and even intervals. units are fixed.

Question 7

What are the main 7 statistical tests?

Answer 7

Chi squared, Spearman’s rho, Mann Whitney, Wilcoxon, Pearson r, Related t-test, Unrelated T-test

Question 8

Which of the statistical tests are non parametric?

Answer 8

Chi Squared, Spearman’s Rho, Mann Whitney, Wilcoxon

Question 9

Which of the statistical tests are parametric?

Answer 9

Pearsons R, Related t-test, Unrelated t-test

Question 10

Which of the statistical tests are used for a test of difference?

Answer 10

Chi squared, Mann Whitney, Wilcoxon, Related t-test, Unrelated t-test

Question 11

Which of the statistical tests are used for correlations?

Answer 11

Spearman’s Rho, Pearsons R

Question 12

Which of the statistical tests are used for associations?

Answer 12

Chi squared

Question 13

What is the difference between Parametric tests and non-parametric tests?

Answer 13

Parametric tests are more robust and rely on actual data rather than examining rank order so will more likely detect if the data is significant or not.

Question 14

What are the three factors that mean a parametric test can be conducted?

Answer 14

Interval level of measurements, normal distribution, Variance of dataset

Question 15

Interval level of measurement

Answer 15

Data must be interval rather than ordinal

Question 16

Normal distribution

Answer 16

The data collected should be taken from a population that shows a normal distribution curve rather than skewed

Question 17

Variance of data

Answer 17

The data should have similar variance or spread of scores and can be examined by looking at the dispersion of sara and standard deviation

Question 18

How to decide what tests to use? (three questions)

Answer 18

1) Is it looking at correlations, test of difference or an association? 2) Which research design is being used 3) which level of measurement is being used in

Question 19

If you are using a correlation what statistical test should you use?

Answer 19

Spearman’s Rho or Pearson’s r

Question 20

If you are looking for a test of difference then what statistical test should you use?

Answer 20

Mann Whitney, Chi Squared, Wilcoxon, Unrelated t-test or Related t-test

Question 21

If looking for an association between variables then what statistical test would you use?

Answer 21

Chi Squared

Question 22

What are the types of research designs used?

Answer 22

Independent measures, repeated measures or matched pairs design