PSY201: Intro Flashcards

1
Q

Statistics

A

describe data - summarize, organize, interpret findings: relationship, effect of manipulation, how big that effect is
without stats, data + findings meaningless
provide ‘universal’ language (rules) to communicate results

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2
Q

population

A

entire group of individuals

Rarely have opportunity to study entire category/group of interest

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3
Q

parameters

A

Pop characteristics

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4
Q

Sample

A

represent pop in research study

goal is to use results obtained from sample to help answer questions about pop

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5
Q

statistics

A

Sample characteristics

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6
Q

Variables

A

characteristic/condition that can change/take on different values

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7
Q

Discrete variables

A

consist of indivisible categories (class size)

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8
Q

continuous variables

A

infinitely divisible into whatever units researcher may choose (time/weight)

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9
Q

Real Limits

A

boundaries located exactly half-way betw adjacent categories

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10
Q

Independent Variable (IV)

A

manipulated; the manipulation is called a treatment

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11
Q

DependentVariable

A

observed + measured to determine effect of treatment

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12
Q

measuring variables

A

To establish relationships betw variables, researchers must observe variables + record observations

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13
Q

scale of measurement

A

set of categories

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14
Q

nominal scale

A

unordered set of categories identified only by name

measurements only permit you to determine whether 2 individuals same/different

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15
Q

ordinal scale

A

ordered set of categories in terms of size

measurements tell you direction of diff betw two individuals.

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16
Q

interval scale

A

ordered series of equal-sized categories

measurements identify direction + magnitude of difference zero point is located arbitrarily on an interval scale

17
Q

ratio scale

A

interval scale where value of zero indicates none of variable measurements identify direction + magnitude of difference + allow ratio comparisons of measurements

18
Q

Experiments

A

to demonstrate cause + effect relationship betw 2 variables show that changing value of 1 variable causes changes in a 2nd variable

19
Q

Experiments

A

one variable is manipulated to create treatment conditions. A second variable is observed and measured to obtain scores for a group of individuals in each of the treatment conditions.

20
Q

Experiments

A

measurements compared to see if there are diff betw treatment conditions
All other variables controlled to prevent them from influencing results

21
Q

Correlational Studies

A

to determine whether there is relationship betw 2 variables + to describe relationship
simply observes 2 variables as they exist naturally

22
Q

Non-experimental or quasi-experimental

A

don’t use manipulated variable to differentiate groups

variable that differentiates groups usually pre-existing participant variable (male/female)/time variable (before/after)

23
Q

Non-experimental or quasi-experimental

A

cannot demonstrate cause + effect relationships

similar to correlational research because they simply demonstrate + describe relationships

24
Q

Data

A

measurements obtained in research study

goal of statistics is to help researchers organize and interpret the data

25
Q

Descriptive statistics

A

Numbers used to simplify, summarize + describe data
Do not involve generalizing beyond description
descriptive value for pop = parameter
descriptive value for sample = statistic

26
Q

Descriptive statistics

A

avg scores used to summarize data

Tables/graphs used to organize data

27
Q

Inferential statistics

A

methods for using sample data to make general conclusions (inferences) about pops
sample data provide only limited info about pop
sample statistics generally imperfect representatives of corresponding pop parameters

28
Q

Sampling Error

A

discrepancy betw sample statistic + its pop parameter

Defining + measuring sampling error large part of inferential statistics

29
Q

Notation

A
X (X + Y if multiple scores): individual measurements/scores obtained for participant
# of scores in data set identified by N for pop/n for sample
30
Q

Notation

A

Summing set of values common in stats
Greek letter sigma, Σ: sum of
ΣX identifies the sum of the scores

31
Q

Order of Operations

A
  1. All calculations within parentheses
  2. Squaring/raising to other exponents
  3. Multiplying + dividing
  4. Addition (summation) with Σ notation
  5. Subtraction