Unit 4 Flashcards
(31 cards)
What is research?
The systematic investigation into a study of materials and sources in order to establish methods and reach new conclusions
What are quantitative methods also known as?
Statistics
What is the first step in the research process?
Theory
What is a hypothesis?
An educated guess
What is a population in research?
Total number of cases or items of interest within a defined region
What are parameters in research?
Numbers that characterize and help to understand a population
What does μ represent?
Average mean
What does σ represent?
Standard deviation
What is a sample?
Small subset of population that’s intended to represent said population
What is the difference between statistics and parameters?
Statistics use English symbols; parameters use Greek symbols
What is a random sample?
Theory that individuals that make up the sample are randomly selected from the population
True or False: A random sample always produces a representative sample.
False
What are key concepts in research?
- Data
- Variables
- Cases
What are discrete variables?
Measured in units that can be subdivided; contain gaps
What is the definition of independent variable?
Factor influencing an outcome
What does precision refer to in measurement?
The exactness of a measure
What is a nominal scale?
Edification scores that classify group or responses without measuring amount or value
What characterizes an ordinal scale?
Categorical scale with a natural order
What is an interval scale?
Scores with equal amounts separating them, can have negative numbers
What is a ratio scale?
Scores that represent the true amount of a variable that is present, scaled to true zero
What is inferential statistics?
Performing mathematical calculations on statistics from a sample of people to infer about a larger population
What does random sampling ensure?
Every element of the population has the same probability of being selected
What is systematic sampling?
Method to picking sample size using an interval approach
What is stratified random sampling?
Dividing the population into subgroups and randomly selecting a sample from each category
