WORKBOOK COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE
2026 BIOSTATISTICS AND RESEARCH DATA
ANALYSIS PRINCIPLES
◉ What are the two main types of data in research? Answer:
Quantitative and qualitative data.
◉ What is the independent variable in an experiment? Answer: The
variable that is manipulated or varied between groups.
◉ What is the dependent variable in an experiment? Answer: The
variable that is measured or affected in response to the independent
variable.
◉ What are the four levels of measurement? Answer: Nominal,
ordinal, interval, and ratio.
◉ What is the significance of higher levels of measurement? Answer:
Higher levels of measurement provide more precise data and are
more desirable for analysis.
, ◉ What does hypothesis testing typically involve? Answer: Testing
the null hypothesis (H0) while often supporting the alternative
hypothesis (Ha).
◉ What is a common assumption for parametric tests? Answer: The
dependent variable must be normally distributed and at the
interval/ratio level.
◉ What is the purpose of descriptive statistics? Answer: To describe,
organize, and summarize data.
◉ What are measures of central tendency? Answer: Mean, median,
and mode.
◉ What does the mean represent in a data set? Answer: The average
score calculated by summing scores and dividing by the number of
scores.
◉ When is the median an appropriate measure of central tendency?
Answer: When the data do not form a symmetrical distribution
(skewed data).
◉ What is the mode? Answer: The most frequently occurring score
in a data set.