LESSON-PSYCHSTATS-NOTES

Psychologists who conduct evaluations and psychological testing to diagnose patients.

Clinical psychologists

Psychologists who conduct intelligence, aptitude, and psychological testing, often using IQ tests and personality inventories, to determine if a learning or emotional disability exists.

School psychologists

Psychologists who conduct studies through lab experiments or surveying specific populations.

Research or experimental psychologists

Psychologists who provide therapy during times of adjustments to major life changes such as being fired, getting divorced, or losing a loved one.

Counseling psychologists

Psychologists who work in business dealing with worker productivity, employee training and assessment, and human resources.

Industrial or organizational psychologists

The scientific study of mental processes.

Psychology

The branch of mathematics that deals with the collection, presentation, analysis, and interpretation of numerical data.

Statistics

Procedures for summarizing, graphing, and describing quantitative information, such as using percentages, arithmetic mean, measures of dispersion, and simple correlations.

Descriptive statistics

Procedures that allow the drawing of conclusions and generalizations about the population based on data gathered from a sample, such as chi-square tests, t-tests, ANOVA procedures, and regression analyses.

Inferential statistics

The weakest level of measurement, involving categorizing cases according to the presence or absence of some attribute.

Nominal

Categorizes and ranks cases on some variable, where the differences between ranks need not be equal.

Ordinal

Categorizes, ranks, and describes variables in such a way that the distance between any two adjacent units of measurements is the same.

Interval

Possesses all the attributes of the lower level of measurement and has a true zero point.

Ratio

Made up of distinct and separate units or categories, and can only take on a finite value.

Discrete variable

Can be expressed by a large (often infinite) number of measures.

Continuous variable

The presumed cause in a study, a variable that can be used to predict or explain the values of another variable.

Independent variable

The presumed effect in a study, the variable whose values are predicted by the independent variable.

Dependent variable

The impact or influence of something on another thing.

Effect

Students in the fourth grade of primary or elementary school.

Grade 4 pupils

Sounds organized in a way that is pleasant to listen to.

Music

The emotional state or feeling of a person.

Mood

A variable that explains the relationship between two other variables.

Mediating variable

A variable that is used to predict or estimate another variable.

Predictor

A standard or measure used to evaluate or judge something.

Criterion

Another term for a mediating variable.

Intervening variable

The equilibrium between work and personal life.

Work-life balance

A compensation system where employees are rewarded based on their performance.

Pay for performance

The level of contentment or fulfillment an individual experiences in their job.

Job satisfaction

Physical discomfort or suffering.

Pain

Any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure.

Physical activity

The belief in one's own ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish tasks.

Self-efficacy

Individuals who participate in sports or physical activities.

Athletes

A variable that influences the relationship between two other variables.

Moderating variable

A statistical term for the effect of a moderating variable.

Interaction variable

Intelligence quotient level, a measure of intelligence.

IQ level

The number of years a person has lived.

Age

The way in which something moves or progresses.

Direction

The degree or intensity of a relationship or effect.

Strength

A variable that is manipulated or controlled in an experiment.

Independent variable

A variable that is measured or observed in an experiment.

Dependent variable

A subset of a population used for research or analysis.

Group/sample

A statistical procedure used for comparing two samples or groups.

Two-sample

A statistical procedure used for analyzing data from more than two samples.

K-sample

Groups that are unrelated or have no connection to each other.

Independent samples

Two or more samples that share characteristics or have a relationship with each other.

Correlated/Related/Dependent samples

Statistical measures that describe the center or average of a distribution of data.

Measures of central tendency

Research that aims to describe or characterize a phenomenon or population.

Descriptive research

The total frequency of a particular value or range of values in a dataset.

Accumulative frequency

A measure that indicates the percentage of scores that fall below a particular score.

Percentile rank

A statistical measure that indicates the relationship between two variables.

Correlation

Making an educated guess or estimation about future outcomes based on available information.

Prediction

A variable that is used to explain or predict another variable.

Explanatory variable

A variable that is influenced or affected by another variable.

Response variable

A statistical technique used to analyze the causal relationships between variables.

Path analysis

The belief or confidence in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something.

Trust

Factors or characteristics that can be measured or observed.

Variables

Different levels or types of measurement used in research.

Scales of measurement

A scale of measurement that categorizes data into distinct categories or groups.

Nominal

A scale of measurement that orders or ranks data without specifying the magnitude of differences between categories.

Ordinal

A scale of measurement that orders data and specifies the magnitude of differences between categories, but does not have a true zero point.

Interval

A scale of measurement that orders data, specifies the magnitude of differences between categories, and has a true zero point.

Ratio

Issues or questions that researchers aim to investigate or address.

Research problems

Analysis or study that involves only one variable.

Uni-variate

Analysis or study that involves two variables and examines their relationship or comparison.

Bivariate

Analysis or study that involves more than two variables.

Multivariate

A statistical error where the null hypothesis is rejected when it is actually true.

Type 1 error

A statistical error where the null hypothesis is accepted when it is actually false.

Type 2 error

Methods used to select a subset of individuals or objects from a population for research purposes.

Sampling techniques

A group of individuals who share a common characteristic.

Population

The specific group or set of individuals, objects, or events that are of interest to the researcher.

Target population

The group of individuals who participate in a research study.

Sample

The process of selecting individuals or a subset of the population for statistical inference.

Sampling

The benefits or advantages of using sampling in research.

Advantage of sampling

A formula used to calculate the ideal sample size for large populations.

Cochran's formula

A formula used to calculate the required sample size for small populations.

Slovin's formula

A sampling method that does not involve a predefined selection process and may not provide equal opportunities for all elements of a population.

Non-probability sampling

The extent to which research findings can be applied or generalized to a larger population.

Generalizability

Gathering information or conducting research to gain insights or generate hypotheses.

Exploratory purposes

Research studies that focus on understanding and interpreting subjective experiences, meanings, and social phenomena.

Qualitative studies

A method of selecting study participants based on their availability or accessibility.

Convenience sampling

Using the researcher's judgment to select a sample based on prior information.

Purposive sampling

Selecting members for a sample based on specific characteristics chosen by the researcher.

Quota sampling

When one respondent identifies other respondents, typically from their friends or relatives.

Snowball sampling

Every member of the population has a chance of being selected.

Probability sampling

Randomly selecting a sample from the population without bias.

Simple random sampling

Dividing the population into subgroups and selecting a random sample from each subgroup.

Stratified random sampling

Dividing the sample into clusters that reflect the whole population and selecting from these clusters.

Cluster/area sampling

Choosing every "nth" individual to be part of the sample.

Systematic random sampling

Statistical measures that determine a single score that defines the center of a distribution.

Measures of central tendency

The goal of finding the single score that is most typical or representative of the entire group.

Central tendency

The average value of a variable in a population, calculated by summing all the values and dividing by the total number of values.

Population Mean

The average value of a variable in a sample, calculated by summing all the values and dividing by the number of values in the sample.

Sample Mean

The mean represents the amount each individual would receive if the total value of a variable is divided equally among all individuals in the distribution.

Mean as a Measure of Central Tendency

The mean can be thought of as a balance point for the distribution, where the total distance below the mean is equal to the total distance above the mean.

Mean as a Balance Point

The overall mean calculated by combining two sets of scores, taking into account the number of scores in each set.

Weighted Mean

The midpoint of a distribution, found by arranging the scores from smallest to largest and locating the middle value.

Median

The middle score in a distribution, reached when 50% of the scores have been surpassed.

Median

The score or category with the highest frequency in a distribution.

Mode

A distribution with two modes.

Bimodal

A distribution with more than two modes.

Multimodal