Business Stats Quiz 1

hypothesis

a prediction regarding the outcome of a study involving the potential relationship between at least two variables

variable

an event or behaviour that has at least two values

theory

an organized system of assumptions and principles that attempts to explain certain phenomena and how they are related

description

carefully observing behaviour in order to describe it

prediction

identifying the factors that indicate when an event or events will occur

explanation

identifying the causes that determine when and why a behaviour occurs

quasi-experimental method

research that compares naturally occuring groups of individuals, the variable of interest cannot be manipulated

alternative explanation

the idea that is is possible that some other, uncontrollable, extranious variable may be responsible for the observed relationship

experimental method

a research method that allows a researcher to establish a cause and effect relationship through manipulation of a variable and control of the solution

independant variable

the variable in a study that is manipulated by the researcher

dependant variable

the variable in the study that is measured by the researcher

control group

the group of participants that does not recieve any level of independent variable and serves as the baseline of the study

experimental group

the group of participants that recieves some level of independent variable

random assignment

assigning particpants to conditions in such a way that every participant has an equal probability of being places in any condition

organizational defintion

a definition of a variable in terms of the operations (activity) a researcher uses to measure or manipulate it

identity

a property of measurement in which objects that are different recieve differnt scores

magnitude

a property of measurement in which the ordering of numbers reflects the ordering of the variable

equal unit size

a property of measurement in which a difference of 1 means the same amount throughout the entire scale

absolute 0

a property of measurement in which assigning a score of 0 indicates an absence of the variable being measured

nominal scale

a scale in which objects or individuals are broken into categories that have no numerical properties

ordinal scale

a scale in which objects or individuals are categorized and the categories form a rank order along a continuem

interval scale

a scale in which the units of measurement (intervals) between the numbers are all equal in size

ratio scale

a scale in which, in addition to order and equal units of measurement, there is an absolute 0 that indicates an abscense of the variable being mentioned