Stats Terms and Types Flashcards
Variability
Refers to how spread out the scores are around the mean. The further the scores are apart the larger the variance.
Sample
A grouping of people taken from the whole.
Ex. 100 students from a certain number of community colleges that attended school in the U.S between 2008 and 2012
Population
A set of individuals whose characteristics are of interest as a whole.
Ex. All students who attended community college in the U.S between 2008 and 2010.
Generalizability
The ability to take findings of research and apply them to the whole.
Parameter
A measurable aspect of the population “umbrella Idea.”
Random
Results are due to chance
Standardization
To mathematically make data sets the same so that they can be compared.
Score
The results manipulated
Raw Score
Come directly from the results of the participant.
Null Hypothesis
No observable difference outside of what would occur due to chance (null = no difference).
Research Hypothesis
What the researcher sets out to establish.
Research Hypothesis Example
“Music affects one’s feeling towards statistics.” when researching the effect listening to music while you study has on how much you like statistics (positive or negative effect).
Alternative Hypothesis
Research Hypothesis reestablished in terms of the null.
Alpha
Sets the level of significance for the hypothesis and is run to rule out chance.
Critical Value
The raw data number that correlates with the p value
Degrees of Freedom
The number of data points that are free to vary from person to person such as mood, status of cancer/athleticism.
Type I Error
Occurs when the Null is true “no trend” and the null is rejected.
Type II Error
Fail to reject the null when the null is false and a trend does exist.
Power
Number that indicates the probably that a study will obtain a significant effect.
Ex. Power of 80% = producing statistically significant results 8 out of 10 times.
