Statistics.ppt

Variability Variability is the differences among scores- shows how subjects vary: Dispersion: extent of scatter around the “average” Range: highest and lowest scores in a distribution Variance and standard deviation: spread of scores in a distribution. The greater the scatter, the larger the variance Interval or ration level data Standard deviation: how much subjects differ from the mean of their group Standard Deviation Measures how much subjects differ from the mean of their group The more spread out the subjects are around the mean, the larger the standard deviation Sensitive to extremes or “outliers” Standard Deviation: 66, 95, 99% Inferential Statistics Allows for comparisons across variables i.e. is there a relation between one’s occupation and their reason for using the public library? Hypothesis Testing Levels of significance The level of significance is the predetermined level at which a null hypothesis is not supported. The most common level is p .05 P =probability = less than ( = more than) Error Type Type I error Reject the null hypothesis when it is really true Type II error Fail to reject the null hypothesis when it is really false Probability By using inferential statistics to make decisions, we can report the probability that we have made a Type I error (indicated by the p value we report) By reporting the p value, we alert readers to the odds that we were incorrect when we decided to reject the null hypothesis Particular Tests Chi-square test of independence: two variables (nominal and nominal, nominal and ordinal, or ordinal and ordinal) Affected by number of cells, number of cases 2-tailed distribution= null hypothesis 1-tailed distribution= directional hypothesis Cramer’s V, Phi example Inferential Statistics (2) Correlation—the extent to which two variables are related across a group of subjects Pearson r It can range from -1.00 to 1.00 -1.00 is a perfect inverse relationship—the strongest possible inverse relationship 0.00 indicates the c