Week One Flashcards
What is the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics
Descriptive: summaries and describe numbers e.g measures of central tendency and their deviations e.g SD
Inferential: used to estimate a number that is unknown in a population // used to draw inferences about our data
What is the statistical method picked decided on?
Number of variable e.g two or more than two
Level of measurement e.g nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio
Types of comparisons e.g. differences between conditions v relationships among variables
Research design e.g. correlational design, experimental design or quasi-experimental design
Describe data and variable
Data: variables that have been organised for analysis
Variable: something that varies and that is measured - opposite of a variable is a constant as it doesn’t change
What are the three types of variables
Categorical: arbitrary values represent categories e.g gender or type of crime
Discrete: can only have certain values within a range e.g the number of campus crimes last year (whole number)
Continuous: can take on any value e.g gpa or crime rate can be whole number or decimals
Define the IV and DV
IV - controlled or manipulated by the research. Also referred to as the antecedent and is the cause in a cause/ effect relationship
DV - not controlled or manipulated by the researcher. Also referred to as the outcome and is considered the effect in a cause and effect relationships
What are the four levels of measurements
Nominal: categories associated with the variable are different eg yes and no, genders, cities etc
Ordinal: categories associated with the variables are different and the categories are rankable eg likert scales, letter grades
Nominal and ordinal are qualitative - categories have numerical value but no mathematical meaning
Interval data: categories associated w variables are different, and categories are rankable and the intervals are equal distances between gaps e.g temperature
Ratio: categories that are different, rankable, intervals are equal distance apart and there is a true zero eg victimization rate
Interval and ratio are quantitative and have mathematical meaning
What are the three research design
Experimental: may be able to infer causation if the researcher has manipulated the IV. True experiment involves random allocation to minimise confounding variables e.g ensure outcome is not caused by other factors
Quasi experimental: those that compared outcomes for an IV, but the IV has not been manipulated or participants have not been randomly allocated.
Correlational: rest relationships, cannot infer causation.
