Chapter 16: DESCRIPTIVE Stats Flashcards
Statistics allows you to: _______ and describe, reveal underlying ________, & make ___________
count, patterns, inferences
2 ways stats are used
- descriptive 2. inferential
What kind of stats? *make generalizations about the population (in number form) from data collected on the sample
inferential
What kind of stats? *describe the sample (demographic tables) (ex: frequencies; can be shown in pie charts)
descriptive
What is being described? *a characteristic among persons or other living things, objects, or events: eye color, hair color, temperature
variable
How can variables be described? 2 ways
- number (1=blue, 2= brown) 2. words (blue, brown, green)
Discrete or continuous variable? *takes on a finite range of values (ex: number of children in the home)
discrete
Discrete or continuous variable? *takes on infinite range of values along specified continuum (ex. age, weight, height)
continuous
Discrete or continuous variable? *AKA categorical variables
discrete
Discrete or continuous variable? used with nominal and ordinal scales
discrete
Discrete or continuous variable? *used with interval and ratio scales
continuous
T/F *continuous variables can be converted to discrete variables, but not vice versa
TRUE (ex: 1 = length less than 60 inches, 2 = length 60 inches or greater)
Name 4 levels measurement
- nominal 2. interval 3. ordinal 4. ratio (“noir” = black in French) :-)
Which level of measurement? *attributes are ordered; doesn’t tell measurable differences between levels (no equal distance between 1 and 2, ex: FIM scales)
-sorting people based on an attribute (attributes ordered according to some criteria); captures equivalence and relative rank
ordinal
(Ex. FIM scores- numbers signify incremental ability to perform ADL’s; people who score 4 on FIM are equivalent in regards to function and relative to those in other categories; does NOT tell us how much greater one level is to another)
Which level of measurement? *lowest level of measurement; mutually exclusive; no quantitative meaning to the numbers (ex: race); assigning numbers to classify characteristics into categories; provides no information other than equivalence and non-equivalence
nominal
Which level of measurement? * specify rank ordering on variable and assume equivalent distance; no real absolute magnitude (ex: age, temperature degree C and degree F–> 60 degrees is not twice as hot as 30 degrees and 0 degrees is not an absence of heat)
interval
Which level of measurement? *highest level of measurement; addresses ordering, intervals, & absolute magnitude
(ex. weight of 200lbs is twice the weight of 100lbs)
can use all arithmetic operations with this level of measurement
ratio
T/F: There is no true absence of 0 in ratio measurement.
FALSE: 0 is true absence in ratio measurement (ex: money, height, weight, minutes of time)
What type of inferential data is used with nominal and ordinal data?
non-parametric
What type of inferential stats is described? *easy to interpret, distribution free, doesn’t estimate parameters; considered less robust, and unable to handle multivariate questions
-useful when data cannot be interval level, when distribution is non-normal, or when sample size is very small
non-parametric
A continuous scale in stats tends to use which type of measurement?
interval & ratio
Which type of inferential stats uses interval & ratio measurement?
parametric
T/F: Parametric inferential stats has normal distributions, is considered more powerful, and can study multiple variables.
TRUE
What graphic describes data that cluster around a mean score or average and square root of variance?
normal curve with standard deviation
