Stats Chapter One

Aggregated Data

data that had been combined or summarized across different groups or categories, often obscuring individual group trends

Belief Bias Effect

a cognitive bias in logical reasoning where a person’s evaluation of the logical validity of an argument is influenced by the believable of the conclusion, rather than solely by the argument’s structure

common sense

the intuitive understanding of evidence and the world, often relying on gut instincts, verbal arguments, and unassisted human reason which scientists often find unreliable for objective evaluation

deductive problems

logical problems where no guessing is required; the conclusion is a necessary consequence of the premises

disaggregated data

data that has been separated or broken down into smaller, individual groups or categories, allowing for more detailed analysis of trends within those groups

induction

the process of making wise guesses and generalizing beyond immediate evidence to form broader conclusions about the world, often requiring inference

logical validity

a property of an argument where, if the premises are true, then the conclusion must also be true. It concerns the structure of an argument, not the factual truth of its statements

Research design

the overall strategy and plan for conducting a research study, including how data will be collected, measured, and analyzed

research methodology

a broader concept encompassing the systematic approach to solving research problems, which includes both statistics and the pragmatics of research design

Simpson’s paradox

a statistical phenomenon where a trend appears in several different groups of data but disappears or reverses when these groups are combined, oft6en due to a lurking confounding variable

statistical science

a field of study, such as psychology, where the inherent complexity, variability, and unpredictability of the subject matter (like people) necessitate the extensive use of statistical methods for meaningful analysis

statistics

a systematic safeguard or tool used by scientists to evaluate evidence objectively, control for human biases. and uncover truths in data