When to Use a Particular Statistical Test SFU.ca（当使用一个特定的统计测试SFU.ca）.pdfVIP

When to Use a Particular Statistical Test Univariate Descriptive Central Tendency Mode • the most commonly occurring value ex: 6 people with ages 21, 22, 21, 23, 19, 21 - mode = 21 Median • the center value • the formula is N+ 1 2 ex: 6 people with ages 21, 22, 24, 23, 19, 21 line them up in order form lowest to highest 19, 21, 21, 22, 23, 24 and take the center value - mode =21.5 Mean • the mathematical average • the formula is 3X/N ex: mean age = age of person one + age of person two + age of person three, etc./number of people Variance • a measure of how spread out a distribution is • it is computed as the average squared deviation of each number from its mean Standard Deviation • how much scores deviate from the mean • it is the square root of the variance • it is the most commonly used measure of spread Bi- and Multivariate Inferential Statistical Tests Differences of Groups Chi Square • compares observed frequencies to expected frequencies ex: Is the distribution of sex and voting behavior due to chance or is there a difference between the sexes on voting behavior? t-Test • looks at differences between two groups on some variable of interest • the IV must have only two groups (male/female, undergrad/grad) ex: Do males and females differ in the amount of hours they spend shopping in a given month? ANOVA • tests the significance of group differences between two or more groups • the IV has two or more categories • only determines that there is a difference between groups, but doesn’t tell which is different ex: Do SAT scores differ for low-, middle-, and high-income students? ANCOVA • same as ANOVA, but adds control of one or mo