Chapter 1 - Describing data: graphical Flashcards
(36 cards)
Population
A complete list of all items of interest in research
Sample
A specific part of the population
Simple random sampling
A manner of selecting a sample of objects out of a population
A way which each member of the population is chosen completely by chance
The selection of one member does not have an influence on the probability of another member in the population being chosen
Systematic sampling
Involves the selection of samples out of a list of the population
Parameter
A numerical measure that describes a specific characteristic of a population
Statistic
A numerical value that describes a specific characteristic of a sample
Sampling error
Often results from the fact that only information about a part of the entire population is available
Nonsampling errors
A type of error that can always occur
Unrelated to the kind of sampling procedure used
Examples of non sampling errors include
The population sampled is not the relevant one
Survey subjects may give inaccurate or dishonest answers
There may be no response to survey questions
Descriptive statistics
Focuses on graphical and numerical procedures that are used to summarise and process data
Describes the overall data
Inferential statistics
Focuses on using the data to make predictions, forecasts, and estimates to make better decisions
Categorical variables
Produce responses that belong to groups and categories
Numerical variables
Can be split up into discrete and continuous variables
Discrete variables
Countable values
Continuous variables
Can take on any value within a given range of real numbers and usually arises from a measurement
Qualitative data
There is no measurable meaning to the ‘difference’ in numbers
Quantitative data
There is a measurable meaning to the difference in numbers
Nominal scale
A scale used for labelling variables into distinct groups
Ordinal scale
A variable measurement scale used to depict the order of variables but not the difference between each of the variables
Interval scale
A numerical scale where the order of the variables as well as the difference between these variables is known
Ratio scale
Almost the same as the interval scale
However it does have zero point
Frequency distribution
A table used to organise data
Left column includes all possible responses on a variable being studied
The right column is a list of the frequencies, or number of observation, for each class
Relative frequency distribution
Obtained by dividing each frequency by the number of observation and multiplying the resulting value by 100%
Cross table
Lists the number of observations for every combination of values for two categorical or ordinal variables