stats lesson

• inferential statistics allow us to infer something about the population and sample
• age is to ratio while iq is to interval
• in bell shaped curved. the scores are normally distributed
• mean is the measure of central tendency
• mode is the best measure for nominal scale of measurement
• a one tail test significance is associated with a directional hypothesis
• Psychobiology


  • Combines biology and psychology, typically focusing on brain organization or brain chemicals
• Cognition


  • Cognitive scientists study the mind
• Human Development


  • Psychologists conduct research on the physical, social, and cognitive development of humans
• Social Psychology


  • Social psychologists are interested in how we view and affect one another
• Psychotherapy


  • Research on psychotherapies is designed to assess whether a therapy is effective in helping individuals
• Superstition and Intuition


  Acquiring knowledge that is based on subjective feelings, interpreting random events as nonrandom events, or believing in magical events
• Authority


  Most people tend to accept information imparted by those they view as authority figures
• Tenacity


  Involves hearing a piece of information so often that you begin to believe it is true, and then, despite evidence to the contrary, you cling stubbornly to the belief
• Rationalism


  Gaining knowledge via logical reasoning
• Empiricism


  Involves gaining knowledge through objective observation and the experiences of your senses
• Science


  Scientists collect data (make empirical observations) and test hypotheses with these data (assess them using rationalism). The goal is to arrive at or test a theory to organize and explain the data gathered in research studies.
• Systematic Empiricism


  • The observations must be made in a systematic manner to test a hypothesis and develop or refute a theory. This allows for more reliable and valid conclusions than observation alone.
• Publicly Verifiable Knowledge


  Research is presented to the public in such a way that it can be observed, replicated, criticized, and tested for veracity by others.
• Empirically Solvable Problems


  Science always investigates questions that are potentially answerable by means of currently available research techniques.
• Goals of Science


  • Description
  • Explanation
  • Prediction
  • Control
• Reviewing the Literature

  1. Selecting a Problem

  2. Library Research

  3. Literature Review
• Sections of a Journal Article

  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Method
  • Results
  • Discussion
• Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)


  • Oversee all federally funded research involving human subjects, evaluating the risks, benefits, and confidentiality measures
• Informed Consent


  Individuals are given a form to inform them of the general nature of the study and obtain their consent to participate
• Risk


  Examples of minimal risk studies include research on memory, problem-solving, and reasoning. For higher risk studies, the benefits must outweigh the risks.
• Deception


  Lying to subjects about the true nature of a study because knowing the true nature might affect their performance
• Debriefing


  Providing information about the true purpose of the study as soon as possible after data collection
• Descriptive Statistics


  • Summarizes, organizes, and simplifies data
  • Uses tables, graphs, averages
• Inferential Statistics


  • Makes generalizations about the population
• Population


  The set of all individuals of interest
• Sample


  The set of individuals selected from a population
• Parameter


  Value that describes a population
• Statistic


  Value that describes a sample
• A researcher is curious about the average IQ of registered voters in Metro Manila. The entire group of registered voters in the NCR is an example of a population.
• A researcher is interested in the sleeping habits of college students. A group of 50 students is interviewed and the researcher finds that these students sleep an average of 6.7 hours per day. For this study, the average of 6.7 hours is an example of a statistic.
• Descriptive statistical techniques are used to summarize the data from a research study and inferential statistical techniques are used to determine what conclusions are justified by the results.
• Variable


  A characteristic or a condition that changes and has different set of values for different individuals
• Levels of Measurement

  • Nominal
  • Ordinal
  • Interval
  • Ratio
• Measurement is the process of assigning individuals, objects, or events to categories according to certain rules.