descriptive stats Flashcards
(15 cards)
1
Q
what are measures of centeral tendency?
A
- averages giving us info about most TYPICAL values in set of data
- mean, median, mode
2
Q
why would you use the mean?
A
- representative as a whole as it includes all the scores/values from the data
3
Q
why would you not use the mean?
A
- it is easily disorted by extreme values= not representative
4
Q
why would you use the median?
A
- extreme scores do not affect it, it remains the same
- easy to calculate
5
Q
why would you not use the median?
A
- less sensitive than the mean so not all scores are included
6
Q
why would you use the mode?
A
- very easy to calculate
- for some data mode is the only method can use eg ‘most typical’/ data in categories
7
Q
why would you not use the mode?
A
- very crude measure- not representative of data as a whole
8
Q
what are measures of dispersion?
A
- based on spread of scores
- how far scores vary and differ from one another
range and standard deviation
9
Q
why would you use the range?
A
- easy to calculate
10
Q
why would you not use the range?
A
- only takes most extreme values into account= unrepresentative of data as a whole
11
Q
what is standard deviation?
A
- single value telling us how far scores deviate (move away) from the mean
- larger deviation= greater dispersion/spread
12
Q
what would a large standard deviation indicate?
A
- not all participants were affected by IV in same way because data are quite widely spread
= few anomalous results
13
Q
what would a low standard deviation indicate?
A
- data is tightly clustered around the mean
- all participants responded in fairly similar way
14
Q
why would you use standard devation?
A
- more precise measure of dispersion than the range as includes all values within final calculation
15
Q
why would you not use standard deviation?
A
- like the mean it can be disorted by a single extreme value
