Mathematical skills Flashcards
(56 cards)
what are the three levels of data
nominal, ordinal, interval
what is nominal data and give an example
Data that are produced as named categories e.g what is your favourite type of chocolate
1. milk
2. dark
3. white
What is ordinal data and give an example
Data which can ranked in ‘order’. There needs to be an increase in your data. Examples of ordinal data are; positions in a race, rating scales, class grade rankings. DATA IS NOT CONTINUOUS
what is interval data and give an example
divisions between the points on an interval scale are equal and same for the whole world e.g metric scale, height, time. DATA IS CONTINUOUS
what is quantitative data
Quantitative data is data that can be measured and is usually numerical, with units associated
strengths and weaknesses of quantitative data
strengths: can be easily compared and trends can be easily spotted
weaknesses: does not provide context
what is qualitative data
non-numerical and descriptive. Diary accounts, open ended questions on a questionnaire and unstructured interviews all produce qualitative data.
strengths and weaknesses of qualitative data
strengths: have context and know why people did certain things
weaknesses: hard to compare
What is primary data
Data collected first-hand by research that intended to collect data on the subject
what is secondary data
Data collected by someone else that is useful for the topic being investigated
strengths and weaknesses of primary data
strengths: Is gathered first hand, therefore there is more certainty on how valid it is
could fine new results
weaknesses: Expensive
time consuming
possibly biased
strengths and weaknesses of secondary data
strengths: doesn’t take too long to collect
can gather lots of data in a short time
weaknesses: can’t be sure how reliable it is
might not be relevant
data can be out of date
what is raw data
Data that psychologists have collected from an investigation, but has not been processed or analysed
what should a raw data table have
1) a title outlining what the table is about
2) rows and columns clearly labelled
3) units
what is the mean
mean is a measure of central tendency
how do you calculate mean
add up all results and divide by the number of results
strengths and weaknesses of mean
strengths: easy to calculate and useful for stats test
weakness: affected by anomalies
what is the median
The middle value in a set of data that is organised by increasing value
Strengths and weaknesses of median
strengths: not affected by outliers
weaknesses: not as useful
required sorting
what is the mode
Provides the most frequent or common value in a data set
strengths and weaknesses of mode
strengths: useful of calculating average for nominal data
weaknesses: can have multiple ones or none at all
doesn’t represent the spread in an accurate way
what is the range
A measure of dispersion - the difference between the highest and lowest value in a set of data.
strengths and weaknesses of the range
strengths: easy to calculate
gives you a good idea of the spread
weaknesses: affected by outliers
not useful for other stat tests
what three maths techniques are a measure of central tendency
mean, mode, median