Week 8 Flashcards
1
Q
What does statistical analysis allow the researcher to do?
A
- summarise the sample
- concisely describe and compare groups within a sample
- find evidence about effectiveness of treatment as well as personal, lifestyle and environmental factors that affect health
- make statements about larger populations based on info from sample
2
Q
What are inferential statistics?
A
statistics that go beyond the sample and help infer what happens in a wider population
3
Q
What are the measures of central tendency?
A
mean, median, mode
4
Q
what are the measures of dispersion?
A
standard deviation, minimum, maximum, range
5
Q
what is the p-value?
A
probability that any particular outcome would have arisen by chance, less than 0.05 = results statically significant
6
Q
What are confidence intervals?
A
describes amount of uncertainty associated with a sample estimate of a population parameter
7
Q
Why are confidence intervals important?
A
- enlarge sample size to a population
- describe how precisely sample data will estimate effects in wider population
- determine with acceptable precision whether treatments have any effect on a population
8
Q
What is the minimum important difference?
A
smallest improvement in health that makes treatment worth time, effort, expense, risk
