Commonly Used Statistical Terms

Commonly Used Statistical Terms
Alternative The hypothesis that is adopted when H0 is rejected. Usually the same as the research
hypothesis (H1) hypothesis.
Analysis of A statistical technique for testing for differences in the means of several groups.
variance (ANOVA)
Bimodal A distribution having two distinct peaks.
Box-and-whisker A graphical representation of the dispersion of a sample.
plot
Boxplot A graphical representation of the dispersion of a sample.
Categorical data Also referred to as frequency or qualitative data. Data representing counts or number
of observations in each category.
Central limit The theorem that specifies the nature of the sampling distribution of the mean.
theorem
Chi-square The distribution of the chi-square (2) statistic.
distribution
Chi-square test A statistical test often used for analyzing categorical data.
Coefficient of The standard deviation divided by the mean.
variation (CV)
Constant A number that does not change in value in a given situation.
Continuous Variables that take on any value. i.e. the time it takes for you to do your summer
variables reading.
Correlation (r) Relationship between variables.
Correlation A measure of the relationship between variables.
coefficient
Criterion variable The variable to be predicted.
Critical value The value of a test statistic at or beyond which we will reject H0 .
Degrees of freedom The number of independent pieces of information remaining after estimating one or
(df) more parameters.
Dependent The variable being measured. The data or score. i.e. If we change the Independent
variables variable, do we see a change in the dependent variable?
Discrete Variable Variables that assume values that can be counted and will assume a succinct value.
i.e. number of days it rained in Hawaii in 2005
Dot plot A distribution that represents the frequencies of individual points by stacking dots
about the axis--similar to a histogram.
The sample size needed in equal-sized groups to achieve the power when we have
Effective sample
groups of unequal sizes. It will generally be less than the total number of subjects in
size
the unequal groups.
Event The outcome of a trial.
Experimental Another name for the research hypothesis.
hypothesis
External validity The ability to generalize the results from this experiment to a larger population.
Factors Another word for independent variables in the analysis of variance.
A variable that takes on a specific set of values. An independent variable who levels
Fixed variable
are assigned by the experimenter.
Frequency A distribution in which the values of the dependent variable are tabled or plotted
distribution against their frequency of occurrence.
Goodness of fit test A test for comparing observed frequencies with theoretically predicted frequencies.
Graphs Visual display of data used to present frequency distributions so that the shape of the
distribution can easily be seen.
Histogram Graph in which rectangles are used to represent frequencies of observations within
each interval.
Hypothesis testing A process by which decisions are made concerning the values of parameters.
Independent Those variables controlled by the experimenter. A variable that is manipulated by an
variables experimenter.
Independent events Events are independent when the occurrence of one has no effect on the probability of
the occurrence of the other.
Inferential statistics That branch of statistics that involves drawing inferences about parameters of the
population(s) from which you have sampled.
Interquartile range The range of the middle 50% of the observations.
Internal validity The degree to which a study if logically sounds and free of confounding variables.
Interval scale Scale on which equal intervals between objects represent equal differences are
meaningful.
Mean The sum of the scores divided by the number of scores.
Measurement Data Sometimes called Quantitative data.
Measures of central
Numerical values referring to the center of the distribution.
tendency
The score corresponding to the point having 50% of the observations below it when
Median
observations are arranged in numerical order.
Mode The most commonly occurring score.
Mutually exclusive Two events are mutually exclusive when the occurrence of one precludes the
occurrence of the other.
Negative A relationship in which increases in one variable are associated with decreases in the
relationship other.
Negatively skewed A distribution that trails off to the left.
Nominal scale Numbers used only to distinguish among objects.
Normal distribution A specific distribution having a characteristic bell-shaped form.
Normality Usually refers to the assumption behind most parametric tests that the data are
normally distributed in the population.
Null hypothesis The statistical hypothesis tested by the statistical procedure. Usually a hypothesis of
(H0 ) no difference or no relationship.
Observed The cell frequencies that were actually observed--as distinguished from expected
frequencies frequencies.
One-tailed test A test that rejects extreme outcomes in only one specified tail of the distribution.
Ordinal scale Numbers used only to place objects in order.
Outlier An extreme point that stands out from the rest of the distribution.
Pearson correlation The most common correlation coefficient.
coefficient (r)
Pearson's The traditional chi-square statistic--as opposed to the likelihood ratio chi- square.
chi-square
Percentile The point below which a specified percentage of the observations fall.
Population Complete set of events in which you are interested.
Positively skewed A distribution that trails off to the right.
Quantitative data Data obtained by measuring objects or events.
Qualitative data Non-numerical data, often in the form of categorical data.
Qualitative Variable a variable based on categorical data
Quantitative a variable based on quantitative data
Variable
Random sample A sample in which each member of the population has an equal chance of inclusion.
A random variable is a numerical value which is determined by the outcomes or
Random variable events of an experiment.A random independent variable is one who levels vary from
one replication to another, and are not determined by the experimenter.
Range The distance from the lowest to the highest score.
Ranked data Data for which the observations have been replaced by their numerical ranks from
lowest to highest.
Ratio scale A scale with a true zero point -- ratios are meaningful.
Regression The prediction of one variable from knowledge of one or more other variables.
Rejection level The probability with which we are willing to reject H0 when it is in fact correct.
Related samples An experimental design in which the same subject is observed under more than one
treatment.
Research hypothesis The hypothesis that the experiment was designed to investigate.
Sample Set of actual observations. Subset of the population.
Sampling
The distribution of a statistic over repeated sampling from a specified population.
distributions
Sampling error Variability of a statistic from sample to sample due to chance.
Scales of Characteristics of relations among numbers assigned to objects.
measurement
Scatter plot A figure in which the individual data points are plotted in two-dimensional space.
Skewness A measure of the degree to which a distribution is asymmetrical.
Spearman's A correlation coefficient on ranked data.

correlation
Standard deviation Square root of the variance.

Standard error The standard deviation of a sampling distribution.
Standard scores Scores with a predetermined mean and standard deviation.
Standard normal A normal distribution with a mean equal to 0 and variance equal to 1. Denoted N (0,
distribution 1).
Statistics Numerical values summarizing sample data.
Stem-and-leaf Graphical display presenting original data arranged into a histogram.
display
Symmetric Having the same shape on both sides of the center.
T scores A set of scores with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10.
Test statistics The results of a statistical test.
Two-Tailed test A test that rejects extreme outcomes in either tail of the distribution.
Type I error The error of rejecting H0 when it is true.
Type II error The error of not rejecting H0 when it is false.
Unimodal A distribution having one distinct peak.
Validity The degree to which a variable measures what it is intended to measure.
Variables Properties of objects that can take on different values.
The sum of the squared deviations from the mean, divided by the degrees of freedom
Variance
(N- 1).
z score Number of standard deviations above or below the mean.

Commonly Used Statistical Terms

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Commonly Used Statistical Terms

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Commonly Used Statistical Terms

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Commonly Used Statistical Terms

Spearman's A correlation coefficient on ranked data.

Standard deviation Square root of the variance.

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.