week 15: hypo testing III Flashcards
inferential statistics
- characteristics of a total population based on a sample
- the validity of the inference depends on the quality of the sample
- generalization requires a representative sample
- no sample will be a perfect replica of a population
- an imperfect sample does not negate the value of a study, but it limits the conclusions that may be drawn from it
what is the formal definition of inferential stats
determine the probability that the null hypothesis accurately represents the conditions in the population; if the statistical test is significant, then the researcher will reject the null hypothesis
what does it mean if a statistic is significant at 0.05 level
the probability of error is less than 5 in 100
what does it mean if stats are not significant
the probability of error in rejecting the null hypothesis is unacceptably high, unusually beaus the chance of error is greater than 5 in 100
type 1 error
reject the null hypo when it is correct
- saying something is significant when it is not
- could be from sampling issues
type 2 error
occurs when a researcher fails to reject the null hypothesis when it is incorrect
- saying no significant difference when there is
- -could be from lack of power so want more participants to fix this
how to chose a statistical test
depends on the level of measurement (ordinal, interval, or ratio)
parametric statistics
recommended for interval or ratio level measurements
*observations that fit certain assumptions about the distribution of data around the mean (normal distribution) and larger sample sizes
nonparametric statistics
recommended for ordinal level measurements, situations in which you are uncertain about the distribution of the data, and have smaller sample sizes
t-test or analysis of variance (anova)
- parametric statistics–probability distribution
- require continuous (interval or ratio) data or suitably transformed data
- powerrful and convenient for testing Ho
- student’s t test (leptokurtic)
- –n is less than 30 and depends on the degrees of freedom
- z-test is n is igger than 30
- all assume random sample
chi-aquared test
usually the best choice for categorical variables
- nonparametric stats–a test of independence
- typically used to analyze data that are too weak to analyze with a t-test or anova
regression
evaluate the relationship between variables and allow prediction
test for testing the difference between two samples
- t test is the most common for analyzing the difference between two sets of data when you have interval or ratio level measures
- –specifically tests the difference between means to determine if the two groups are significantly different
3 factors affecting whether you will find a significant difference with a t test
- magnitude of the difference between means
- amount of variability of the data
- sample size
related t test
two measures are performed on the same participant
—this is a paired t-test