Outline for this weeks classes
review course outline
PSYC 2002
Introduction to statistics in
psychology
Winter 2017
W-1
1 2
Readings
OT pp. 11-57 (Introduction: sections
A-K)
note: we will not cover the sections
on percentiles or transformations in
class (transformations will show up
later)
3 4
A definition of statistics
statistics refers to a range of
techniques and procedures for
analyzing, interpreting, displaying,
and making decisions based on data
(OT, p. 12)
5 6
introduction to statistics
rationale for statistics
basic types of statistics
distributions of numbers
introduction to Excel
Statistics is a research tool for
evaluating data
data set of scores or measurements
statistics are used to evaluate the results
of experiments; Did the data support the
hypothesis?
quantify behaviour to enable more precise
statements about data and its theoretical
implications
Kinds of statistics
descriptive statistics summary of
measurements (e.g., average)
inferential statistics enable
inferences to be drawn from data
Systematic versus random effects
if two groups show a difference, is the
difference attributable to a systematic
difference or is the difference
attributable to chance?
if the individuals were randomly
assigned to the groups then it is
possible to choose between these
alternatives
7 8
Generalization & random sampling
generalization from sample to
population requires a random sample
each member of the population has
an equal chance of being selected
selection of any one member is
independent of the selection of the
other members
the size of the sample is important:
bigger is better! 9 10
Discrete & continuous variables
discrete variables indivisible
categories (e.g., number of
participants in a condition, number of
conditions in an experiment)
continuous variables infinite number
of possible values (e.g., time, length)
11
Generalization
would a set of results hold if another
group of participants were used?
sample subset of individuals from
a larger group
population the set of all
individuals that have some
characteristic
Assumptions of statistics
interpretation of statistical information
must account for possible violations
of assumptions, such as non random
assignment, non random sampling,
etc.
1.use appropriate statistics
2.understand how robust a statistic is
when its assumptions are violated
Scales of measurement
type of observations determines
appropriate type of statistic
nominal scale
ordinal scale
interval scale
ratio scale
12
Nominal & ordinal scales
1.nominal scale observations
categorized (e.g., types of
professions, political affiliation)
2.ordinal scale observations rank
ordered (e.g., Maclean's ranking of
universities, top 200 recordings of
2013) (aka rank-ordered variable)
13
Statistical notation
N or n = number of scores,
observations, etc.
X, Y, Z = variable names
15
Benefits of frequency distributions
can see how all scores from group
are distributed:
how many high
how many low
in short, how they are arranged
17
Interval & ratio scales
3.interval scale all categories have
same size (celsius temperature)
4.ratio scale interval scale with an
absolute zero point (Kelvin
temperature, response time, percent
correct)
14
Frequency distributions
frequency distribution: number of
individual scores associated with
each category in some type of
measurement system; arguably,
simplest type of descriptive statistic
goal - organize data
scores ranked lowest to highest
same scores grouped together
16
Frequency distribution tables:
Components
X = score
f = number of scores for a given score
value; frequency
e.g., 8, 9, 5, 7, 4, 8, 1, 6, 6, 8, 5, 3, 3, 6, 7
18
Frequency distribution tables: Example Frequency distribution tables: Grouped
of a table tables
x f proportion grouped tables are used when
9 1 1/15 = 0.067
dealing with many observations or
8 3 3/15 = 0.200
large range of scores
7 2 2/15 = 0.133
usually use ~10 intervals (balance
6 3 3/15 = 0.200
5 2 2/15 = 0.133 between displaying sufficient
4 1 1/15 = 0.067 information and economy)
3 2 2/15 = 0.133
2 0 0/15 = 0.000
1 1 1/15 = 0.067
19 20

Frequency distribution tables: Grouped Frequency distribution tables: Grouped

tables table example
usually use integer number for
interval f proportion
interval size (e.g., 2, 5, or 10) 91-100 5 5/73 = 0.068
intervals should be same size
81-90 7 7/73 = 0.096
71-80 13 13/73 = 0.178
61-70 27 27/73 = 0.370
51-60 12 12/73 = 0.164
41-50 5 5/73 = 0.068
31-40 2 2/73 = 0.027
21-30 2 2/73 = 0.027
11-20 0 0/73 = 0.000
1-10 0 0/73 = 0.000
21 22

Frequency distribution: Graphing

Continuous variables and limits
conventions
continuous variables can take on any x-axis (horizontal) = categories

value; however, limit to resolution of y-axis (vertical) = values of categories

interval size
(e.g., frequencies)
therefore, need real limits - halfway
between adjacent categories; e.g.,
score of 200 includes any value
between 199.5 and 200.5
depends on rounding conventions (
0.5, round up; < 0.5, round down)
23 24
 Histograms: Example from grouped
Histograms
table
graph for quantitative data from an
30.0
interval or ratio scale
height of bar corresponds to 22.5

Frequency
frequency 15.0

width of bar matches real limits of

7.5
score
0.0
1-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-100
Intervals

25 26

Frequency distribution polygons:

Frequency distribution polygons
Example
for interval or ratio scale data 90.0

plot single dot above each score

67.5
position of dot on y-axis corresponds
Frequency

45.0
to frequency of score
draw line connecting dots 22.5

0.0
9

9
4.

9.

4.

9.

4.

9.

4.

9.

4.

9.
0-

5-

-1

-1

-2

-2

-3

-3

-4

-4
10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45
Stress rating

27 28

Frequency distribution polygons: Effect Characteristics of frequency

of large samples distributions: Mode
smooth curves mode - peak in distribution
smooth curves - as the size of a

sample becomes larger, the

frequency polygon becomes more
smooth in shape

e.g., normal distribution

unimodal - one peak bimodal - two peaks
29 30
Characteristics of frequency Characteristics of frequency
distributions: Tails & outliers distributions: Skew
tail: where distribution of scores floor/ceiling effects

tapers off
positively negatively
outlier: score that is substantially skewed skewed
different from the majority of other
scores

tail of distribution on right tail of distribution on left

31 32

Characteristics of frequency
Introduction to Excel
distributions: Summary
tails & peaks spreadsheet design
mode - unimodal; bimodal; navigating in Excel
multimodal; rectangular manipulating numbers in Excel
symmetrical vs. skewed distributions creating frequency distributions in
Excel
NOTE: You are not restricted to using only Excel.
Other popular spreadsheets (e.g., OpenOffice,
Numbers, etc.) use identical formulas* and the
same procedures for manipulating information in
33
the spreadsheet. 34

Introduction to Excel Next

a link to a web tutorial for Excel is displaying data & descriptive statistics
located on the course homepage in more about Excel

cuLearn: http://www.youtube.com/ OT pp. 65-112 (Graphing

watch?v=8L1OVkw2ZQ8 Distributions)
OT pp. 123-135. 144-157

(Summarizing Distributions:
sections A1-3; B, & C

35 36