research methods - descriptive statistics. Flashcards

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1
Q

What is meant by “mode”?

A

Most frequent occurring score/value within data set.

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2
Q

What is meant by “mean”?

A

The average.

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3
Q

What is meant by “median”?

A

Central value within the data set when the data is arranged highest to lowest.

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4
Q

What is meant by “range”?

A

Difference between the highest and lowest value in data set.

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5
Q

What is meant by “standard devation”?

A

Tells the distance each score is from the mean and calculates how spread out he scores are from the mean.

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6
Q

What is the use of measures of central tendency?

A
  • descriptive statistics allows us to summarise quantitative data and summarise patterns such as measures of central tendency.
  • inform us about the central value within a data set.
  • known as averages
    ↳ tell us about typical value for a set of data.
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7
Q

What are the measures of central tendency?

A
  • mean.
  • median.
  • mode.
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8
Q

How is the mean calculated?

A
  1. add up all values in data set.
    1. divide total by the total number of values.
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9
Q

What are the strengths of the mean?

A
  • most sensitive measure of central tendency.
  • includes all the scores/values in data set.
  • more representative data.
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10
Q

What is a weakness of the mean?

A
  • easily distorted by extreme values.
    ↳ unrepresentative as most values in data set are smaller than mean.
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11
Q

How is the mode calculated?

A
  1. most common number in data set.
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12
Q

What are the strengths of the mode?

A
  • unaffected by extreme scores/values.
    ↳ identifies most frequent ignoring other scores.
    ➝ more representative.
  • ideal when analysing nominal data
    ↳ e.g. finding students favourite topic in psychology.
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13
Q

How is the median calculated?

A
  1. order numbers from lowest to highest.
    1. use formula (n+1)/2 or find middle value.
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14
Q

What are the strengths of the median?

A
  • unaffected by extreme scores/values
    ↳ concerned in middle value ignoring other scores.
    ➝ more representative.
  • easy to calculate.
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15
Q

What is a weakness of the median?

A
  • does not take all scores/values into account
    ↳ ignores other scores.
    ➝ less sensitive as a measure of central tendency.
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16
Q

What is meant by “measure of dispersion”?

A

How dispersed or spread put the data scores are.

17
Q

What is measure of dispersion?

A

Type of descriptive statistics involving quantitative analysis.

18
Q

What do measures of dispersion tell us?

A

How much variability there is within data.

19
Q

What are the measures of dispersion?

A
  • range.
  • standard deviation.
20
Q

How is the range calculated?

A
  1. subtract lowest number from highest number.
21
Q

What are the strengths of the range?

A
  • easy to calculate.
  • takes in consideration the extreme scores
    ↳ use of highest number.
22
Q

What is a weakness of the range?

A
  • only uses two scores/values from whole data set.
23
Q

What is a low standard deviation like?

A
  • data points tend to be very close to the mean.
  • tightly clustered around the mean.
  • less spread.
  • may be implied that all participants responded in a similar way.
24
Q

What is a high standard deviation like?

A
  • data is spread out over a large range of values.
  • greater spread.
  • suggest that not all participants were affected by IV in the same way.
  • may be anomalous results.
25
Q

What is a strength of standard deviation?

A
  • takes all data points into account
    ↳ more precise measure of dispersion compared to the range.
26
Q

What is a weakness of standard deviation?

A
  • hard and laborious to calculate
    ↳ time-consuming to work out.