Psychology: Statistics in the research process

Purpose of statistics: organise and summarise data so that researchers can

see what happened in the study and communicate the results to others.
Statistics also help the researcher answer the general questions that initiated the
research by determining exactly what conclusions are justified based on the
results.
Descriptive statistics: methods and statistics that help researchers organise,
summarise and simplify the results obtained from research studies.
Inferential statistics: methods that use the results obtained from samples to
help make generalisations about populations.
Statistics: A summary value that describes a sample is called a statistic. A
common example of a statistic is the average score for a sample.
Sample statistics have two purposes:
They describe or summarise the entire set of scores in the sample. For example,
the average IQ score for a sample of 100 people provides a summary description
of the intelligence level of the entire sample.
They provide information about the corresponding summary values for the entire
population. For example, the average reading score for a sample of 25 first grade
students provides information about the general reading level for the entire
population of first graders.
Parameter: a summary value that describes a population. A common parameter
is the average score for a population.
Each statistic (computed for a sample) has a corresponding parameter (for the
entire population). Most inferential statistical techniques use sample statistics as
the basis for drawing general conclusions about the corresponding population
parameters.
Descriptive statistics: Organise of summarise scores. The two general techniques
used to accomplish these are:
1. Organise the entire set of scores into a table of a graph that allows
researchers to see the whole set of scores.
2. Compute one or two summary values (such as the average) that describe
the entire group.
Frequency distributions: This method simplifies and organises a set of scores
by grouping them into an organised display that shows the entire set. The
frequency distribution consists of a tabulation of the number of individuals in
each category on the scale of measurement. It displays:
1. The set of categories that make up the scale of measurement.
2. The number of individuals with scores in each of the categories.
It can be a table of a graph.
Advantage: Allows to view the entire set of scores.

Disadvantage: Tedious without the use of a computer due to the large amount of
data.
FD table: Consists two columns of information. The first scale presents the scale
of measurement or simply lists the set of categories into which individuals have
been assigned.
The second lists the frequency, or the number of individuals.
FD graph: Graph shows scale of measurement (set of categories) along the
horizontal axis and the frequencies on the vertical axis.
Histogram: Shows a bar above each score so that the height of the bar indicates
the frequency of occurrence for that particular score.
Polygon: Shows a point above each score so that the height of the point indicates
the frequency. When the categories on the scale of measurement are not
numerical values, the frequency distribution is presented as a bar graph.
A frequency distribution is generally considered to be a preliminary method of
statistical analysis. As a result, frequency distributions are rarely shown in
published reports.
A frequency distribution graph is probably the single best method for thinking
about a set of data. The image of a FD graph gives you the concrete
representation of all the individual scores as well as the appearance of the entire
set of data.

Measures of central tendency:

A simpler method for describing scores in a sample. The most commonly used
descriptive statistic involves computing the average score for a set of data, and
this process is called measuring central tendency. The purpose of this method is
to locate the centre of the distribution of scores by finding a single score that
represents the entire set.
The goal is to find the average, of the most typical, score for the entire set.
Measures of central tendency can be used to describe or summarize a group of
individuals. For example, if a research reports states that the children who
participated in the study had an average IQ of 124, then these children are
definitely smarted than average.
Mean: The individual scores are numerical values obtained from an interval or a
ratio scale of measurement, the mean is the most commonly used measure of
central tendency. The mean is computed by adding the scores and dividing the
sum by the number of individuals.
In certain situations, the mean may not provide a good measure of central
tendency:
When a sample contains a few extreme scores, the mean tends to be distorted
by the extreme values so that it is not a good central representative value.

Also, sample data contains a few measurements from a nominal scale and are
not numerical values. E.g., the researcher might measure variables such as
gender, occupation, academic major or eye colour for a sample of students.
Because no numerical values are involved, it is impossible to compute a mean
value for such data.
Mode: The mode is the score or category with the greatest frequency. In a
frequency distribution graph, the mode identifies the location of the peak. When
the scores consist of classifications that are not numerical values (measurements
from a nominal scale), it is impossible to compute the mean or the median. In
this case, the mode is the only available measure of central tendency.
Median: The score that divides a distribution in half, so that 50% of the
individuals have scores that are less than or equal to the median. In a
distribution with a few extreme scores, when the mean is displaced, the median
often provides a better measure of central tendency.
Measures of variability:
Variability describes the spread of the scores in a distribution. When variability is
small, it means that the scores are all clustered close together. Large variability
means that there are bog differences between individuals and the scores are
spread. As with central tendency, there are describe variability, however the
most common are the standard deviation and its associated measure, variance.
Standard deviation and variance
Whenever the mean is used as the measure of central tendency, the standard
deviation is used as the measure of variability. Standard deviation uses the mean
of the distribution as a reference point and measures variability by measuring
the distance between each score and the mean. The standard measures the
average distance from the mean.
Calculating variance and standard deviation:
1. For the score, measure the distance away from the mean. This distance is
called deviation. For example, if the mean is 80, and you have a score of
84, then the deviation is 4 points.
2. Square each of the distances and compute the average of the squared
distances. This is variance. The average squared distance for a sample is
computed by dividing the sum of the squared distances by n-1, where n is
the number of scores in the sample. The value of n-1 is called degrees of
freedom, or df.