Research Methods: Descriptive Statistics KR Flashcards

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1
Q

How do we analyse Quantitative data

A

by using descriptive statistics

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2
Q

What type of data does descriptive statistics analyse?

A

Quantitative data

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3
Q

Descriptive statistics analyses quantitative data. What two ways of doing this?

A

Measures of dispersion and measures of central tendency

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4
Q

What is meant by measures of central tendency?

A

any measure of the average value in a set of data

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5
Q

What is meant by measures of dispersion?

A

the spread of scores

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6
Q

Name the three ways in which we can uses measures of central tendency to analyse quantitative data

A

Mean, Median, Mode

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7
Q

Mean median and mode are apart of which descriptive statistic?

A

measures of central tendency

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8
Q

Summarise Mode as a measure of central tendency

A

most common score

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9
Q

Summarise Median as a measure of central tendency

A

central/middle score in a ranked list

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10
Q

Summarise Mean as a measure of central tendency

A

Mathematical average

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11
Q

True or False: there can be only one mode in a data set

A

False: there can be more than one mode in a data set

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12
Q

Which level of measurement uses Mode?

A

nominal

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13
Q

Which measure of central tendency is used with nominal data?

A

Mode

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14
Q

How is mode calculated?

A

take the most common frequency

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15
Q

A03: What is a strength of mode?

A

it is easy to calculate and less prone to distortion by extreme scores

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16
Q

A03: Why is mode less prone to distortion by extreme scores?

A

it doesn’t take into account all of the scores, only the most common

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17
Q

A03: What is a weakness of mode?

A

it doesn’t take account of all scores

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18
Q

A03: Why is it a weakness of mode that it doesn’t take into account all scores?

A

the data may be less accurate as we exclude extreme scores

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19
Q

A03: Why is it a weakness if we ignore extreme scores in mode?

A

it limits our understanding of behaviour

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20
Q

A03: What is a further weakness of mode?

A

not as useful if there is more than one mode in a data set

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21
Q

A03: Why is mode not as useful if there is more than one mode in a data set?

A

it affects how we interpret the data

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22
Q

How do we calculate the median score?

A

rank the scores in order and pick the central score

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23
Q

What should we do if there are two central numbers when calculating the median score?

A

if there are two central scores, add together and divide by 2

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24
Q

A03: What is a strength of using the median?

A

easy to calculate and not effected by extreme scores

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25
Q

A03: Why is the median not affected by extreme scores?

A

it doesn’t take into account all values only the central score

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26
Q

A03: What is a weakness of using the median?

A

it is not as sensitive as mean

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27
Q

A03: why is the median not as sensitive as the mean?

A

it doesn’t take into account all values only the central score

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28
Q

How do we calculate the mean?

A

All scores added up and divided by the total number of scores

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29
Q

A03: what is a strength of using the mean?

A

it is the most accurate and sensitive measure of central tendency

30
Q

A03: Why is the mean the most accurate and sensitive measure of central tendency?

A

it takes into account all values/scores

31
Q

A03: What is a weakness of using the mean?

A

it is affected by extreme scores

32
Q

A03: Why is the mean affected by extreme scores?

A

it takes all the values into account

33
Q

A03: If the mean is affected by extreme scores, what can this do to the data?

A

It can result in misleading interpretations of the results

34
Q

What methods do we use to measure the level of dispersion in data?

A

standard deviation and range

35
Q

What do we use standard deviation and range for?

A

measures of dispersion

36
Q

What is meant by range?

A

spread of scores from smallest to largest

37
Q

How do we calculate the range?

A

subtract the lowest value from the highest value and add 1

38
Q

What level of measurement uses range?

A

ordinal

39
Q

What measure of dispersion is involved in ordinal data?

A

range

40
Q

A03: what is a strength of using range?

A

it is easy and quick to calculate

41
Q

A03: Why is the range quick and easy to calculate?

A

it only uses 2 pieces of the data to calculate

42
Q

A03: What is a weakness of using the range?

A

it can be distorted by extreme scores

43
Q

A03: Why can the range be distorted by extreme scores?

A

it only takes into account the smallest and largest values

44
Q

A03: By only taking into account the smallest and largest values, what could this do to the interpretation of data when using range?

A

it provides an inaccurate range and therefore an inaccurate interpretation

45
Q

What is meant by standard deviation?

A

the spread of data around the mean

46
Q

How do we interpret a large standard deviation?

A

the larger the spread of data around the mean

47
Q

What does a large spread of data show us?

A

that there is less consistency in scores and more individual differences

48
Q

Why does a large spread of data show us that there is more individual differences?

A

because less participants have met the mean score which shows that the IV has not affected participants in the same way

49
Q

How do we interpret a small standard deviation?

A

a smaller spread of data around the mean

50
Q

What does a small spread of data show us?

A

that there is more consistency and less individual differences

51
Q

Why does a smaller standard deviation show us more consistency in data?

A

because all the scores are clustered around the mean

52
Q

What level of measurement uses standard deviation?

A

interval data

53
Q

What measure of dispersion does interval data use?

A

standard deviation

54
Q

What is meant by 1 standard deviation?

A

they are 1 interval/ standard deviation away from the mean score

55
Q

A03: what is a strength of using standard deviation?

A

it is more precise and sensitive measure

56
Q

A03: Why is standard deviation more sensitive and precise?

A

it uses all the scores making it a more accurate measure of dispersion than range

57
Q

A03: Why is standard deviation less likely to be distorted by extreme scores?

A

it focusses on the distance of each score from the mean rather than from the highest to the lowest

58
Q

A03: what is a weakness of using standard deviation?

A

it is more complicated and time consuming

59
Q

A03: Why is standard deviation complicated and time consuming?

A

the calculation is lengthy

60
Q

How are descriptive statistics displayed

A

in a graph/table

61
Q

Work out the Mean, Median, Mode and Range from the data below

A

Mean: 45
Median: 30.5
Mode: 12
Range: 86

62
Q

Work out the Mean, Median, Mode and Range from the data below

A

Mean: 69.7
Median: 82
Mode: 92
Range: 60

63
Q

Work out the Mean, Median, Mode and Range from the data below

A

Mean:17.5
Median: 4
Mode: 4
Range:74

64
Q

Work out the Mean, Median, Mode and Range from the data below

A

Mean: 42.5
Median: 28.5
Mode: 11
Range: 92

65
Q

Work out the Mean, Median, Mode and Range from the data below

A

Mean: 43.1
Median: 43.5
Mode: 65
Range: 45

66
Q

Work out the Mean, Median, Mode and Range from the data below

A

Mean: 50.5
Median: 39
Mode: 34
Range: 52

67
Q

Work out the Mean, Median, Mode and Range from the data below

A

Mean: 23.3
Median:22
Mode: 22
Range:5

68
Q

Work out the Mean, Median, and Range from the data below

A

Mean:57.8
Median:67
Range:86

69
Q

Work out the Mean, Median, Mode and Range from the data below

A

Mean:42.8
Median:44
Mode:61
Range:48

70
Q

Work out the Mean, Median, Mode and Range from the data below

A

Mean:36.7
Median:34.5
Mode:32
Range:17

71
Q

Work out the Mean, Median, Mode and Range from the data below

A

Mean:18
Median:18
Mode:18
Range:8

72
Q

Work out the Mean, Median, and Range from the data below

A

Mean:28.3
Median:23.5
Range:51