METHODS OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH AND STATISTIC
APA Guidelines
● Calculate with 3 decimals
● Round all results to 2 decimals
● Exception: p-values, write value round to 3 decimals (e.g. p = .231)
● But…if your p-value is smaller than .001. then report as: p<.001
● M, SD, p, t, d: italics
WEEK 1B: INTRODUCTION TO DESCRIPTIVE AND INFERENTIAL STATISTICS
➔ Descriptive Statistics are techniques that are used to present, organise and summarise
data/ set of numbers - data reduction.
➔ Inferential Statistics are techniques that are used to make predictions and inferences
(draw conclusions) about an entire population based on observations made in a sample.
T
he Research Process
,Analyzing data
1. Unit of analysis/ cases (all subjects/ objects that are mentioned - who your sampled is
made up of)
2. Variables (feature/ characteristics of the subjects)
3. Values (possible categories per characteristics i.e. gender = male/ female)
1. Univariate analysis are statements about 1 variable (e.g. hours a day spent on social
media)
2. Bivariate analysis are statements about 2 variables (e.g. is there a relationship between
drinking coffee and feeling cranky)
3. Multivariate analysis are statements about more than 2 variables (e.g. is the influence of
drinking coffee on feeling cranky different for students that for lecturers)
Levels of measurements
Nominal ❏ Names or categories ❏ Gender
❏ Lowest level of measurement ❏ Handedness
❏ Favorite color
❏ Religion
Ordinal ❏ Names or categories and the ❏ Consumer satisfaction
order is meaningful ratings
❏ Can't assume the differences ❏ Military rank
, between adjacent scale values
are equal
Interval ❏ Names or categories and the ❏ Fahrenheit temperature
order is meaningful, and intervals scale - zero doesn't mean
have the same interpretation that the temperature
❏ Addition and subtraction is doesn't exist
possible ❏ Year
❏ Cannot multiply or divide values
Ratio ❏ Highest and most informative ❏ Amount of money - zero
scale money indicates the
❏ Contains the qualities of nominal, absence of money
ordinal, and interval scales with
the addition of an absolute zero
point
➔ Discrete variable: Discrete variables are numeric variables that have a
countable
number of values between any two values. A discrete variable is always numeric. For
example, the number of pets you have.
➔ Continuous variable: Continuous variables are numeric variables that have an infinite
number of values between any two values. A continuous variable can be numeric or
date/time. For example, the length of a part or the date and time a payment is received.
Measures of central tendency
1. The m ode is the most commonly occurring value i n a distribution.
2. The m edian is the m iddle value in distribution when the values are arranged in
ascending or descending order.
3. The m ean is the sum of the value of each observation in a dataset d ivided by the
number of observations. This is also known as the arithmetic average.
APA Guidelines
● Calculate with 3 decimals
● Round all results to 2 decimals
● Exception: p-values, write value round to 3 decimals (e.g. p = .231)
● But…if your p-value is smaller than .001. then report as: p<.001
● M, SD, p, t, d: italics
WEEK 1B: INTRODUCTION TO DESCRIPTIVE AND INFERENTIAL STATISTICS
➔ Descriptive Statistics are techniques that are used to present, organise and summarise
data/ set of numbers - data reduction.
➔ Inferential Statistics are techniques that are used to make predictions and inferences
(draw conclusions) about an entire population based on observations made in a sample.
T
he Research Process
,Analyzing data
1. Unit of analysis/ cases (all subjects/ objects that are mentioned - who your sampled is
made up of)
2. Variables (feature/ characteristics of the subjects)
3. Values (possible categories per characteristics i.e. gender = male/ female)
1. Univariate analysis are statements about 1 variable (e.g. hours a day spent on social
media)
2. Bivariate analysis are statements about 2 variables (e.g. is there a relationship between
drinking coffee and feeling cranky)
3. Multivariate analysis are statements about more than 2 variables (e.g. is the influence of
drinking coffee on feeling cranky different for students that for lecturers)
Levels of measurements
Nominal ❏ Names or categories ❏ Gender
❏ Lowest level of measurement ❏ Handedness
❏ Favorite color
❏ Religion
Ordinal ❏ Names or categories and the ❏ Consumer satisfaction
order is meaningful ratings
❏ Can't assume the differences ❏ Military rank
, between adjacent scale values
are equal
Interval ❏ Names or categories and the ❏ Fahrenheit temperature
order is meaningful, and intervals scale - zero doesn't mean
have the same interpretation that the temperature
❏ Addition and subtraction is doesn't exist
possible ❏ Year
❏ Cannot multiply or divide values
Ratio ❏ Highest and most informative ❏ Amount of money - zero
scale money indicates the
❏ Contains the qualities of nominal, absence of money
ordinal, and interval scales with
the addition of an absolute zero
point
➔ Discrete variable: Discrete variables are numeric variables that have a
countable
number of values between any two values. A discrete variable is always numeric. For
example, the number of pets you have.
➔ Continuous variable: Continuous variables are numeric variables that have an infinite
number of values between any two values. A continuous variable can be numeric or
date/time. For example, the length of a part or the date and time a payment is received.
Measures of central tendency
1. The m ode is the most commonly occurring value i n a distribution.
2. The m edian is the m iddle value in distribution when the values are arranged in
ascending or descending order.
3. The m ean is the sum of the value of each observation in a dataset d ivided by the
number of observations. This is also known as the arithmetic average.
