QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 100%
CORRECT
mathematical methods to collect, organize, summarize, and analyze data - provides
valid and reliable results only when the data collection and research methods follow
established scientific procedures: - ANSWER-statistics
in 1835 Lambert Adolphe Quetelet a Belgian mathematician and astronomer laid much
of the ground work for: - ANSWER-statistics - did this through his paper titled "On man
and the development of his faculties"
statistical methods and techniques designed to reduce data sets to allow for easier
interpretation - meaningful organization of data: - ANSWER-descriptive statistics - it
would be really difficult to read a list of 100 answers compiled from a sample of 100
people about how long they listened to the radio - so we use descriptive statistics to
make it simpler to read
mass media researchers use two primary methods to make their data more
manageable: - ANSWER-data distributions and summary statistics
this is simply a collection of numbers: - ANSWER-data distribution
this is a table of the scores ordered according to magnitude and frequency of
occurrence - can also be constructed using grouped intervals: - ANSWER-frequency
distribution - the data begins to show a pattern
this type of frequency is constructed by adding the number of scores in one interval to
the number of scores in the intervals above it: - ANSWER-cumulative frequency
what's another word for the x-axis: - ANSWER-abscissa (horrizontal)
what's another word for the y-axis: - ANSWER-ordinate (vertical)
this is a common form of a graph - this kind of graph has vertical bars to represent
frequencies: - ANSWER-histogram or bar chart
when you have a histogram or bar chart and you draw a line from the midpoint of each
interval at its peak along the y-axis to each adjacent midpoint/peak the resulting graph
is called a: - ANSWER-frequency polygon
, this is similar to a frequency polygon except that the points are reconnected by a
continuous, unbroken curve instead of by lines: - ANSWER-frequency curve
a normal symmetrical bell-shaped curve: - ANSWER-normal (symmetrical) curve
patterns of deviation between curves are called - the concentration of scores around a
particular point on the x-axis: - ANSWER-skewness
this type of curve possesses the quality of lying towards the low end of the scale, with
the tail of the curve trailing off to the right - this curve is called a ____ skew: - ANSWER-
right skew
this type of curve possesses the quality of having the tail of the curve trailing off to the
left: - ANSWER-left skew
if the halves of a curve are identical it is referred to as: - ANSWER-symmetrical or
normal - it's not skewed in either direction
although the word skewness is a valid statistical term it's not used much in research -
instead variations of the word ____ are used: - ANSWER-lean - researchers may say
the data leans one way or another
this helps make data more manageable by measuring two basic tendencies of
distributions: central tendency and dispersion, or variability: - ANSWER-summary
statistics
a single value that is chosen to represent a typical score in a distribution, such as the
mean, the mode, or the median - the statistics provide info about the grouping of the
numbers in a distribution by giving a single number that characterizes the entire
distribution: - ANSWER-central tendency
this is the score or scores that occur most frequently: - ANSWER-mode
what are 2 draw backs about the mode: - ANSWER-the mode focuses attention on only
one score, which can hide important facts about the data when considered alone. Also a
distribution of scores can have more than one mode.
what are the 3 summary statistics? - ANSWER-mean, median, and mode
this is the midpoint of a distribution - half of the scores lie above it and half lie below it: -
ANSWER-median - if the distribution has an odd number of scores the median is the
middle score
what if the median is an even number? - ANSWER-the median will be a hypothetical
score halfway between the two middle scores - the two middle scores are added and
divided by 2