why statistics Flashcards
what did the British Psychological society Benchmark Statement (2019) say were subject specific skills
- identify and evaluate patterns in behaviour
- analyse and present quantitative data
- use a variety of psychological tools
what did the British Psychological society Benchmark Statement (2019) say were transferable skills
- effective communication
- numerical reasoning
- computer literacy
- retrieve and organise information effectively
what makes a good scientific theory
- supported by data
- is falsifiable
- ‘all other things equal, the simplest solution is the best’ - occam’s razor
what are the stages of the research process
- research question
- theory
- generate hypothesis
- design a study
- ethical approval
- collect data
- analyse data
- write your study up as a research report
what is descriptive statistics
- a way of summarising data graphically and numerically from a population or a sample. examples include mean and standard deviation
inferential statistics
using additional tests to test a hypothesis and see if we can make inferences about our population
good uses of statistics
- advance scientific understanding
- breakthroughs in medical provision
- make suggestions to change legislation
- keep the public updated with latest trends
what is scientific racism
- the use of science or empirical evidence to justify racial hierarchies and discrimination
what did Samuel Morton (1799-1851) suggest about misuses of statistics
- racial differences in cranial size justify racial intelligence hierarchy
- was argued that results were misleading due to data collection issues (Gould, 1978)
- reflected unconscious bias
how did Karl Pearson (1857-1936) misuse statistics
- supporter of eugenics and founder of Annals of Human Eugenics
- argued that parents ‘failed to have knowledge of English required to make their generation effective citizens of this country’.
in 2003 what did the Human Genome project suggest
human beings are 99.9% identical
what modern example of scientific racism did Bunyavanich et al 2020 propose
- the suggestion that a higher expression of TMPRSS2 in black individuals contributed to increase in prevalence of covid
what modern example of scientific racism did Mullen et al 2021 propose
suggestions that genetic differences by race would explain differences in coronary heart disease prevalence
how did Colgate misuse statistics
- claimed more than 80% of dentists recommended colgate
- however this was not what the survey asked
- Ofcom concluded this was a breach of advertising guidelines
how to avoid misuse of statistics
- acknowledge, rather than ignore, previous misuse of statistics so we can learn
- look at media reports with a questioning mind - does the data represent what we’re being told
- learn how to conduct research correctly and appropriately
