chapter 1 (intro)

Question 1

research

Answer 1

process of gathering info systematically to answer questions and test theories. uses statistics.

Question 2

data

Answer 2

information collected as part of a research project and expressed as numbers.

Question 3

statistics

Answer 3

set of mathematical techniques for organizing and analyzing data. sometimes also refers to numbers obtained from statistical techniques.

Question 4

theory

Answer 4

generalized explanation of the relationship between 2+ variables.

Question 5

variable

Answer 5

any trait that can change values from case to case.

Question 6

independent variable

Answer 6

variable that is identified as a causal variable. causes dependent.

Question 7

dependent variable

Answer 7

variable identified as an effect, result, or outcome. thought to be caused by independent variable.

Question 8

hypothesis

Answer 8

statement about relationship between variables derived from a theory. more specific than theory. terms and concepts are fully defined.

Question 9

descriptive statistics

Answer 9

branch of stats concerned with:
1. summarizing distribution of single variable.
2. measuring relationship between two or more variables.
describing raw study data. goal is data reduction.

Question 10

data reduction

Answer 10

summarizing many scores with a few statistics. major goal of descriptive stats.

Question 11

measures of association

Answer 11

stats that summarize the strength and direction of relationship between variables. provide clues about causation.

Question 12

sample

Answer 12

carefully chosen subset of population.

Question 13

population

Answer 13

total collection of cases in which researcher is interested.

Question 14

inferential statistics

Answer 14

branch of stats concerned with generalizing from samples to populations. two general uses: estimation and hypothesis testing.

Question 15

discrete variable

Answer 15

variable with basic unit of measurement that cannot be subdivided. (ex: number of siblings, people per household.)

Question 16

continuous

Answer 16

variable with a unit of measurement that can be subdivided indefinitely. (ex: time.)

Question 17

level of measurement

Answer 17

mathematical characteristic of variable and major criterion for selecting statistical techniques. determined from examination of response categories.
the three levels are:
1. nominal.
2. ordinal.
3. interval-ratio.

Question 18

response categories

Answer 18

variable’s possible attributes, qualities, characteristics.

Question 19

nominal variable

Answer 19

variable whose response categories can be classified but not ordered. category criteria:
1. mutually exclusive.
2. exhaustive.
3. relatively homogeneous.

Question 20

ordinal variable

Answer 20

variable whose response categories can be classified and ordered. (ex: options from lower to upper class, likert scale.)

Question 21

interval-ratio variable

Answer 21

variable whose response categories can be classified and ordered and have equal distance between them.