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Chapter 1 - Textbook Notes
1-1 Statistics and Behavioural Science
Statistics serve 2 general purposes
1. Organize and summarize the information so the researcher can see what occurred in the
study and can communicate the results with others
2. Help the researcher to answer the questions that initiated the research by determining
exactly what general conclusion are justified based on the specific results that were
obtained
Statistics refers to a set of mathematical procedures for organizing, summarizing, and
interpreting information
- Statistics provide researchers with a set of standardized techniques that are recognized and
understood throughout the scientific community
• Statistical methods used by one researcher can be familiar to other researchers
Populations and Samples
Population is the set of all individuals of interest in a particular study
Ex: the entire set of all registered voters
Sample is the set of individuals selected from a population, usually intended to represent the
population in a research study.
Random Sample everyone in the population has an equal change of being selected.
The goal is to generalize the results back to the entire population
Variable and Data
Variable a characteristics or condition that changes or has different values for different
individuals.
A characteristics or condition that can be measured or manipulated (lecture def)
ex: as the weather changes, do people’s review of restaurants change too?
Data (pluarl) measurements or observations
Data Set collection of measurements or observations
Datum (singlular) a single measurement or obseration, commonly called a score or raw score
Chapter 1 - Textbook Notes
1-1 Statistics and Behavioural Science
Statistics serve 2 general purposes
1. Organize and summarize the information so the researcher can see what occurred in the
study and can communicate the results with others
2. Help the researcher to answer the questions that initiated the research by determining
exactly what general conclusion are justified based on the specific results that were
obtained
Statistics refers to a set of mathematical procedures for organizing, summarizing, and
interpreting information
- Statistics provide researchers with a set of standardized techniques that are recognized and
understood throughout the scientific community
• Statistical methods used by one researcher can be familiar to other researchers
Populations and Samples
Population is the set of all individuals of interest in a particular study
Ex: the entire set of all registered voters
Sample is the set of individuals selected from a population, usually intended to represent the
population in a research study.
Random Sample everyone in the population has an equal change of being selected.
The goal is to generalize the results back to the entire population
Variable and Data
Variable a characteristics or condition that changes or has different values for different
individuals.
A characteristics or condition that can be measured or manipulated (lecture def)
ex: as the weather changes, do people’s review of restaurants change too?
Data (pluarl) measurements or observations
Data Set collection of measurements or observations
Datum (singlular) a single measurement or obseration, commonly called a score or raw score
