Statistics Introduction Questions with
Verified Answers
Variables - ✅✅ A characteristic (of a person, place, or thing) that takes on
different values (achievement, attitude, knowledge, etc.)
Types of variables - ✅✅ Quantitative (Numerical) and Qualitative (Categorical
Quantitative Variable - ✅✅ Represent differing amounts of the characteristic
(age, intelligence, or run time, etc.)
Qualitative Variable - ✅✅ Represent differing kinds rather than amounts (gender,
marital status, or breed of dog, etc.)
Continuous Variables - ✅✅ Variables that can take on any value (number of free
throws made, GRE score, or number of students in class)
Discrete Variables - ✅✅ Variables that can take a finite number of values (marital
status, gender, or a year in school)
Dichotomous variable - ✅✅ either male or female
Univariate Data - ✅✅ When a study involved studying only one variable (speed)
Bivariate Data - ✅✅ When a study involves studying two variables
simultaneously (strength and throwing distance)
Purpose four levels of measurement - ✅✅ Help the research determine what types
of statistical analyses are appropriate for a given set of data
Nominal Scale - ✅✅ (Names) Values merely name the category to which the
object under study belongs, interpretations are limited to statements of kind rather
than amount (Italian, Irish...)
Ordinal Scale - ✅✅ Outcomes can be ordered or ranked to reflect differing
degrees or amounts of the characteristic being studied (first vs. Second vs. Third)
Does not give info about the difference between first and second, second and third
, Interval Scale - ✅✅ Value assigned is based on some underlying continuum that
has equal intervals (The 2-point difference between 3 and 5 and 7 and 8, drop in
temp from 30℃ to 10℃ same as 50℃ to 30℃) (Includes meas. of aptitude,
achievement, or attitude) Social Sciences
Parametric statistical techniques - ✅✅ underlying distributions assumed to be
normal
Statistics - ✅✅ A set of tools and techniques that are used for describing,
organizing, and interpreting information or data
Example of statistics - ✅✅ Number of students in a particular curriculum speed of
problem-solving, or average cost of dinner
Purpose of statistics - ✅✅ Making decisions with incomplete data
Data - ✅✅ A record of an observation or an event such as a test score, grade in a
class, or response time, one
Data Set - ✅✅ A collection of observations or events such as test scores, grades
on a test, or response times
Descriptive statistics - ✅✅ Used to organize and describe the characteristics of a
collection of data; measures of central tendency (CT) and measures of variability
Inferential statistics - ✅✅ Used to make generalizations from a smaller group of
subjects (a sample to a larger group of subjects (a population); won't have access to
the entire population
Population - ✅✅ A group of people that have at least one characteristic in
common (all aggies)
Sample - ✅✅ A subset of a population (certain subset of aggies)
Statistic - ✅✅ A summarized value of a sample (average age of aggies)
Parameter - ✅✅ A summarized value of a population (average age of the entire
population of aggies)
Verified Answers
Variables - ✅✅ A characteristic (of a person, place, or thing) that takes on
different values (achievement, attitude, knowledge, etc.)
Types of variables - ✅✅ Quantitative (Numerical) and Qualitative (Categorical
Quantitative Variable - ✅✅ Represent differing amounts of the characteristic
(age, intelligence, or run time, etc.)
Qualitative Variable - ✅✅ Represent differing kinds rather than amounts (gender,
marital status, or breed of dog, etc.)
Continuous Variables - ✅✅ Variables that can take on any value (number of free
throws made, GRE score, or number of students in class)
Discrete Variables - ✅✅ Variables that can take a finite number of values (marital
status, gender, or a year in school)
Dichotomous variable - ✅✅ either male or female
Univariate Data - ✅✅ When a study involved studying only one variable (speed)
Bivariate Data - ✅✅ When a study involves studying two variables
simultaneously (strength and throwing distance)
Purpose four levels of measurement - ✅✅ Help the research determine what types
of statistical analyses are appropriate for a given set of data
Nominal Scale - ✅✅ (Names) Values merely name the category to which the
object under study belongs, interpretations are limited to statements of kind rather
than amount (Italian, Irish...)
Ordinal Scale - ✅✅ Outcomes can be ordered or ranked to reflect differing
degrees or amounts of the characteristic being studied (first vs. Second vs. Third)
Does not give info about the difference between first and second, second and third
, Interval Scale - ✅✅ Value assigned is based on some underlying continuum that
has equal intervals (The 2-point difference between 3 and 5 and 7 and 8, drop in
temp from 30℃ to 10℃ same as 50℃ to 30℃) (Includes meas. of aptitude,
achievement, or attitude) Social Sciences
Parametric statistical techniques - ✅✅ underlying distributions assumed to be
normal
Statistics - ✅✅ A set of tools and techniques that are used for describing,
organizing, and interpreting information or data
Example of statistics - ✅✅ Number of students in a particular curriculum speed of
problem-solving, or average cost of dinner
Purpose of statistics - ✅✅ Making decisions with incomplete data
Data - ✅✅ A record of an observation or an event such as a test score, grade in a
class, or response time, one
Data Set - ✅✅ A collection of observations or events such as test scores, grades
on a test, or response times
Descriptive statistics - ✅✅ Used to organize and describe the characteristics of a
collection of data; measures of central tendency (CT) and measures of variability
Inferential statistics - ✅✅ Used to make generalizations from a smaller group of
subjects (a sample to a larger group of subjects (a population); won't have access to
the entire population
Population - ✅✅ A group of people that have at least one characteristic in
common (all aggies)
Sample - ✅✅ A subset of a population (certain subset of aggies)
Statistic - ✅✅ A summarized value of a sample (average age of aggies)
Parameter - ✅✅ A summarized value of a population (average age of the entire
population of aggies)
