INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICAL
INVESTIGATIONS FINAL PAPER TESTED
QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS
COMPLETE STUDY SHEET
●● Purpose of statistics
Answer: to draw scientific conclusions for research (scientific
inferences)
●● Random noise
Answer: data variation that is not accounted for by factors considered in
the analysis
●● Continuous vs discrete
Answer: Continuous = data on a continuum, can be any real value
Discrete = 1, 2, 3, etc
●● 2 things statistical theory is concerned about
Answer: 1) Experimental design (needs accuracy/foresight)
2) Data analysis
●● What is a successful statistical study?
,Answer: One with accurate conclusions
●● Population
Answer: complete collection of subjects of interest in the study
●● Case
Answer: An individual unit (person or other) being studied
●● Variable
Answer: A characteristic or attribute that can assume different values
●● Sample
Answer: a subset of the population
●● Data
Answer: collection of observations of various kinds
●● Metadata
Answer: Data about data
●● Statistics
, Answer: The science of conducting studies to collect, organize,
summarize, analyze, and draw conclusions from data
●● Census
Answer: Collection of data from every member of the population of
interest
●● What is bad about voluntary response based studies?
Answer: The population is self-selecting, so data is less likely to be valid
●● Statistical significance
Answer: Measure of whether or not something is likely to have occurred
by chance
●● 7 ways studies can be invalid/misleading
Answer: 1) They assume correlation = causation
2) Sample was too small
3) Questions were loaded
4) There was nonresponse confounding
5) Data was missing (some persons overlooked)
6) You assume that precision = accuracy
7) Data is presented in a misleading way ("100% improvement")
INVESTIGATIONS FINAL PAPER TESTED
QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS
COMPLETE STUDY SHEET
●● Purpose of statistics
Answer: to draw scientific conclusions for research (scientific
inferences)
●● Random noise
Answer: data variation that is not accounted for by factors considered in
the analysis
●● Continuous vs discrete
Answer: Continuous = data on a continuum, can be any real value
Discrete = 1, 2, 3, etc
●● 2 things statistical theory is concerned about
Answer: 1) Experimental design (needs accuracy/foresight)
2) Data analysis
●● What is a successful statistical study?
,Answer: One with accurate conclusions
●● Population
Answer: complete collection of subjects of interest in the study
●● Case
Answer: An individual unit (person or other) being studied
●● Variable
Answer: A characteristic or attribute that can assume different values
●● Sample
Answer: a subset of the population
●● Data
Answer: collection of observations of various kinds
●● Metadata
Answer: Data about data
●● Statistics
, Answer: The science of conducting studies to collect, organize,
summarize, analyze, and draw conclusions from data
●● Census
Answer: Collection of data from every member of the population of
interest
●● What is bad about voluntary response based studies?
Answer: The population is self-selecting, so data is less likely to be valid
●● Statistical significance
Answer: Measure of whether or not something is likely to have occurred
by chance
●● 7 ways studies can be invalid/misleading
Answer: 1) They assume correlation = causation
2) Sample was too small
3) Questions were loaded
4) There was nonresponse confounding
5) Data was missing (some persons overlooked)
6) You assume that precision = accuracy
7) Data is presented in a misleading way ("100% improvement")
