Unit 1 - Extra bits

Question 1

What is Standard form?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

What are descriptive statistics?

Answer 2

Ways of summing up and presenting your findings

Question 3

What are inferential statistics?

Answer 3

Working out what your findings are telling you (statistical tests).
They enable you to work out which hypothesis has been supported by the data

Question 4

What type of data are pie charts good for?

Answer 4

Nominal, enabling the researcher to present percentages from within an overall total and show proportions of a whole.

Question 5

Why are line graphs good?

Answer 5

They are useful for showing change over time
Psychologists may use to to track behaviour or attitudes over time

Question 6

What is the difference between a bar chart and a histogram?

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

What are the 5 non-parametric inferential tests?

Answer 7

Binomial sign tests, Chi square, Wilcoxon signed ranks test, Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman’s Rho

Question 8

When would you use Chi Squared?

Answer 8

With nominal data and independent measures design

Question 9

When would you use Mann-Whitney U test?

Answer 9

With Ordinal data and repeated measure

Question 10

When would you use a Binomial sign test?

Answer 10

With nominal data and repeated measures

Question 11

When would you use Wilcoxon signed ranks test?

Answer 11

Ordinal data and repeated measures

Question 12

What test non-parametric test would you use for correlation?

Answer 12

Spearman’s Rho

Question 13

What are the three criteria for using a parametric inferential statistical test?

Answer 13

The data has to be interval or ratio
The data has to have a curve of normal distribution
The variances should be similar

Question 14

What does P>0.05 mean?

Answer 14

The chance that the results are due to chance is greater than 5%, so the null hypothesis would be accepted

Question 15

What is a type 1 error?

Answer 15

When the alternative hypothesis is mistakenly accepted, suggesting that there is a statistically significant result when in reality it is just down to chance

Question 16

What is a type 2 error?

Answer 16

When the null hypothesis is accepted, and the alternative rejected, when the independent variable really is having a significant impact on the dependent variable

Question 17

How does normal distribution link to standard deviation?

Answer 17

In a normal distribution curve, 68% of valued are within 1 standard deviation of the mean and 95% are in 2 deviations

Question 18

What are the 7 stages of a psychological report

Answer 18

Abstract
Introduction
Method
Results
Discussion
References
Appendices

Question 19

What are the 7 steps of n academic reference?

Answer 19

Author
year of publication
Article title
Journal title
Volume of journal
Issue number of Journal
Page range of article

Question 20

What is peer review?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

What are the strengths of peer review?

Answer 21

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

Question 22

What are the weaknesses of peer review?

Answer 22

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

Question 23

What is falsification?

Answer 23

The ability, in principle, to prove a claim wrong

Question 24

What is replicability?

Answer 24

being able to repeat and therefore refute the findings from another piece of research

Question 25

What is deduction?

Answer 25

A theory is formed, and then empirical research is carried out to test the theory

Question 26

What is induction?

Answer 26

When a theory is made to explain the results of empirical research

Question 27

What are controls?

Answer 27

Imposed on experiments to ensure that results are due to the independent variable, rather than extraneous variables.

Question 28

What is nominal data?

Answer 28

A head count of the number of participants who do one thing as opposed to another

Question 29

What is ordinal data?

Answer 29

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

Question 30

What is interval data?

Answer 30

It analyses the size of the gaps between participants scores