Statistics Terminology and Concepts, Quizzes of Communication

Download Statistics Terminology and Concepts and more Quizzes Communication in PDF only on Docsity! TERM 1 Statistics DEFINITION 1 Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. Help people make decisions when faced with uncertainty TERM 2 Sample DEFINITION 2 Those who werechosen from a population andactually studied in an experiment TERM 3 Idiosyncratic Influence DEFINITION 3 Individual ways of looking at things in which one person differs from others.Ex: inaccurate observation, over generalization, selective attention and retention TERM 4 Falsifiable Claims DEFINITION 4 Can be tested in principle TERM 5 Goals of Science DEFINITION 5 Description, prediction, explanation, control TERM 6 Weaknesses of Science DEFINITION 6 Science cannot directly answer questions of valueNot as objective as people argue because people are influenced by their perceptions TERM 7 Theory DEFINITION 7 Set of systematically related statements about relationships among concepts, with the purpose of explaining some phenomenonTheory is a story of the casual relationships among concepts TERM 8 Concept DEFINITION 8 An abstraction the describes a portion of reality TERM 9 Hypothesis DEFINITION 9 Statement about the relationship between variables- less abstract than a theory- meant to be tested TERM 10 Wheel of Science DEFINITION 10 Theory ---> Hypothesis ---> Observation ---> Support/Modify TERM 21 Measurement Variables (a.k.a. Quantitative) DEFINITION 21 Can record a numerical value & then order respondents according to those valuesEx: IQ is a measurement variable because it can be expressed as a single numberEx: age, height, weight, etc. TERM 22 Interval Variable DEFINITION 22 Measurement variable in which it makes sense to talk about differences, but not ratiosEx: Temperature - last night: 20 degrees, tonight: 40 degrees- makes sense to say its 20 degrees warmer, not its twice as warm out tonight TERM 23 Ratio Variable DEFINITION 23 Has a meaningful value of zero & makes sense to talk ratiosEx: Pulse rate - PR is 60 pre-workout & 120 post- workout- makes sense to say that pulse has doubled, not that PR is up 60 b/m TERM 24 Discrete Variable DEFINITION 24 Can count possible responsesEx: count number of accidents on a certain part of highway- answer could be 0,1,4,5... not 1.2, 1.5, 2.2...- can't have 1.5 accidents** Discrete is analogous to "numbers" of things ---> "number of hot dogs eaten in 30min" TERM 25 Continuous Variable DEFINITION 25 Anything within a certain intervalEx: age - falls on a continuum- someone is 45 years & 33days old**Continuous is analogous to "amounts" of things ---> "amount of water left in the pool" TERM 26 Validity DEFINITION 26 When what is claimed to be measured is actually measuredEx: trying to measure happiness with an IQ test and you wouldn't get a valid measure of happiness TERM 27 Reliability DEFINITION 27 When a measurement gives you approx. same result time and again when done on same object/subject TERM 28 Unobtrusive Measures DEFINITION 28 Indirect way of obtaining necessary data from research subjects TERM 29 Intentional Bias DEFINITION 29 A survey that is being conducted to support a certain cause are worded in a deliberate mannerEx: "Do you agree that...." TERM 30 Unintentional Bias DEFINITION 30 Questions can be worded in a way that are misleadingEx: "Do you use drugs?" ---> need to specify:prescription, illegal, over-the-counter TERM 31 Desire to Please DEFINITION 31 Respondents have a desire to please the person who is asking them questions and will understate their opinion because of it TERM 32 Systematic Sampling DEFINITION 32 Systematic sampling is a statistical method involving the selection of elements from an ordered sampling frame.Ex: list of 5000 names/numbers, you want to select 100 of them, need to select 1 of every 50 people- To do so, you select every 50th name TERM 33 Stratified Random Sampling DEFINITION 33 Method of sampling from a population.- divide population into groups (strata)- then take a random simple sample from each group TERM 34 Cluster Sampling DEFINITION 34 Sampling technique used when "natural" but relatively homogeneous groupings are evident in a statistical population. - population is divided into groups (clusters)- then select a random sample of clusters & measure only those clusters TERM 35 Simple Random Sample DEFINITION 35 Every group of people has same chance of being selected