Statistics - Answers Branch of mathematics used to summarize, analyze, and interpret a group of
numbers or observations
Descriptive Statistics - Answers Procedures used to summarize, organize and make sense of a set of
scores or observations.•Often presented graphically in tables or as summary statistics .
Data - Answers Measurements or observations that are typically numeric.
Datum - Answers Single measurement or observation, usually referred to as a score or raw score
Inferential Statistics - Answers Procedures used that allow researchers to infer or generalize
observations made with samples to the larger population from which they were selected. Make
decisions
Population - Answers Set of all individuals, items, or data of interest.
Sample - Answers Set of individuals, items or data selected from a population of interest
Random Assignment - Answers A random procedure used to ensure that participants in a study have an
equal chance of being assigned to a particular group or condition.
Operational Definition - Answers A description of some observable event in terms of the specific process
or manner by which is was observed or measured.
Three Required Elements of Control - Answers •Manipulation
•Randomization
•Comparison/control
Quasi-Experimental Method - Answers A study that lacks randomization
Scales of Measurement - Answers •Nominal
•Ordinal
•Interval
•Ratio
Nominal - Answers •Identify something or someone and provide NO additional information
•Categorical variable
•Examples: Sex, Race, Nationality, Eye color
Ordinal - Answers •Conveys only that some value is greater or less than another value
, •Examples: Education level, order in a competition, and rankings
Interval - Answers •Measurements that have no true zero and are distributed in equal units
•Examples: Temperature, Likert scale survey responses, latitude and longitude
Ratio - Answers •Similar to interval scales in that scores are distributed in equal units.
•There is a true zero
•Examples: length, weight, height, time
Types of Variables - Answers •Continuous- measure on a continuum
•Discrete- Whole units or categories
•Quantitative-Measured in numeric units
•Qualitative-Labels for the behavior we observe
Frequency - Answers The number of times or how often a category, score or range of scores occurs
Frequency Distributions - Answers Most basic way to present/illustrate data
Method of tallying and representing how often certain scores or data points occur
Scores are grouped into intervals or ranges of numbers
Outliers - Answers Extreme scores that fall substantially above or below most of the scores in a
particular data set.
Histogram - Answers A graphical display used to summarize the frequency of continuous data that are
distributed in numeric intervals.
Proportion - Answers Part or portion of all measured data. The sum of all proportions for a distribution
of scores is 1.0.
relative percent distribution - Answers Summary display that distributes the percentage of scores
occurring in each interval relative to all scores distributed.
Percentile Rank - Answers Percentage of scores with values that fall below a specified score in a
distribution
Population Size - Answers N
Sample Size - Answers n
Measures of Central Tendency - Answers Statistical measures for locating a single score that is most
representative or descriptive of all scores in a distribution.