Statistics in research + practice questions Flashcards
what are the two principal purposes of statistical methods
- to help organise and summarise data
- to help the researcher answer the general questions that prompted the research
what are descriptive statistics
Methods that help researchers organize, summarize, and simplify the
results obtained from research studies
Methods that use the results obtained from samples to help make
generalizations about populations
inferential statistics
whats the difference between a statistic and a parameter
statistic is concerned with the sample, whereas parameter is concerned with the population. S with S, P with P
a method of simplifying and organizing a
set of scores by grouping them into an organized display
frequency distributions
what are the ways to demonstrate a frequency distribution
- frequency table
- histogram and/or polygon
- bar graphs
Identifies a single score that defines the center of a distribution
measures of central tendency
mathematical average of a set of scores
mean
score that divides a distribution in half
median
most commonly occurring score
mode
measures the variability of the scores by computing the average
squared distance from the mean
variance
The square root of the variance
standard deviation
____ are speculated values, not collected values
parameters
prediction is evaluated by
making systemic and direct observations
true or false: you can safely assume that primary sources contain descriptions of research by those who conducted it
true
true or false: in the scientific method, a prediction is evaluated by determining the hypothesis of best fit
false
true or false: any publication with a section describing methodology is a primary source
false, not necessarily
when using operational it is important to keep in mind that operational definitions:
are not the same as the construct itself
what makes a measurement procedure valid
if it measures what you want it to
what is a big criticism of stratified random sampling
the sample is usually not representative of the population
_______ research engages in a study of pre-existing groups, as the researchers are not conducting an experiment or manipulating them to determine variables
Non-experimental
Statistical process of finding the linear equation
regression
