Unit 1 - Extra bits Flashcards
What is Standard form?
Another name for scientific notation, which is a way of writing very large or small numbers using a number between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of 10
What are descriptive statistics?
Ways of summing up and presenting your findings
What are inferential statistics?
Working out what your findings are telling you (statistical tests).
They enable you to work out which hypothesis has been supported by the data
What type of data are pie charts good for?
Nominal, enabling the researcher to present percentages from within an overall total and show proportions of a whole.
Why are line graphs good?
They are useful for showing change over time
Psychologists may use to to track behaviour or attitudes over time
What is the difference between a bar chart and a histogram?
bar charts convey information about frequencies through the height of the bars, whereas histograms convey this through the area.
archarts also have spaces where histograms don’t, and show discrete data while histograms show continuous data.
What are the 5 non-parametric inferential tests?
Binomial sign tests, Chi square, Wilcoxon signed ranks test, Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman’s Rho
When would you use Chi Squared?
With nominal data and independent measures design
When would you use Mann-Whitney U test?
With Ordinal data and repeated measure
When would you use a Binomial sign test?
With nominal data and repeated measures
When would you use Wilcoxon signed ranks test?
Ordinal data and repeated measures
What test non-parametric test would you use for correlation?
Spearman’s Rho
What are the three criteria for using a parametric inferential statistical test?
The data has to be interval or ratio
The data has to have a curve of normal distribution
The variances should be similar
What does P>0.05 mean?
The chance that the results are due to chance is greater than 5%, so the null hypothesis would be accepted
What is a type 1 error?
When the alternative hypothesis is mistakenly accepted, suggesting that there is a statistically significant result when in reality it is just down to chance
What is a type 2 error?
When the null hypothesis is accepted, and the alternative rejected, when the independent variable really is having a significant impact on the dependent variable
How does normal distribution link to standard deviation?
In a normal distribution curve, 68% of valued are within 1 standard deviation of the mean and 95% are in 2 deviations
What are the 7 stages of a psychological report
Abstract
Introduction
Method
Results
Discussion
References
Appendices
What are the 7 steps of n academic reference?
Author
year of publication
Article title
Journal title
Volume of journal
Issue number of Journal
Page range of article
What is peer review?
When people of the same standing in the field review the research to make sure the research was carried out in an important area, in an acceptable manner with the appropriate methodology
What are the strengths of peer review?
It is important to retain the credibility of new research and ensure validity of publications
It does attempt to ensure that only the most relevant and methodologically robust research is published
What are the weaknesses of peer review?
It is not always seen as positive
It is a lengthy process
Some reviews may not ‘pass research which contradicts their own, and it may not be possible to detect research which has used false data
What is falsification?
The ability, in principle, to prove a claim wrong
What is replicability?
being able to repeat and therefore refute the findings from another piece of research
What is deduction?
A theory is formed, and then empirical research is carried out to test the theory
What is induction?
When a theory is made to explain the results of empirical research
What are controls?
Imposed on experiments to ensure that results are due to the independent variable, rather than extraneous variables.
What is nominal data?
A head count of the number of participants who do one thing as opposed to another
What is ordinal data?
Analysis is made of individual scores achieved by participants, but only in relation to others, no account is taken of how much further highest is from second highest
What is interval data?
It analyses the size of the gaps between participants scores
