PsychStats Exam 1

empirical data

questions of what IS (he IS tall, the earth IS round)

normative data

questions of what SHOULD be (he SHOULD eat more)

normative data depends on

definitions (what IS a hat? if youre saying someone is wearing one)

explain the steps of the logico-empirical method

1. 1. identify problem/question

2. 2. have a theory to explain concepts

3. 3. turn theory into testable hypothesis (make it measurable)

4. 4. collect data

5. 5. display and analyze data

6. 6. draw conclusions

independnt variable

variable that is causing (x)

dependant variable

variable being changed (y)

inductive reasoning

look for patterns and draw conclusions

deductive reasoning

start w/ general idea, use logic to draw conclusions

nomothetic

include every possible explanation

idiographic

look at only a few variables we deem important

units of analysis

entities from which we observe data

ecological fallacy

trying to draw individual conclusions from group

individualist fallacy

trying to draw group conclusions from individuals

what is a variable

mutually exclusive and exhaustive set of attributes

what is a value

various #/ answer you can get

score

each individual’s value

categorical/nominal data

can be categorized NOT ranked

what tools can be used for categorical/nominal data

bar chart, frequency table, mode

what is rank order/ordinal data

can be categorized and ranked, but cant say how much more

what tools are used for rank order/ordinal data

histogram, frequency table, mode or median

what is equal interval/ interval data

can be categorized and ranked

what tools can be used for interval data?

histogram, frequency table, scatter plot, stem and leaf, box and whisker, mean, range, SD

mode

categoty w most cases

median

value where ½ cases above, ½ cases below

mean

the average

purpose of z score

Lets us look across different units. This number is the number of standard deviations from the mean

nature of correlation

Do they vary together? Is it positive or negative?

strength of correlation

how tightly do they vary together?

significance

how likely is it that this relationship is happening by chance?

line of regression

straight line that hits the most points on the scatter plot

when should you use SD vs variation?

Use standard deviation when you want to describe or interpret spread. Use variance when working with regression.