Scribd
Upload
20 views

U 1.5 Descriptive Statistics

Uploaded by

정우박
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
20 views

U 1.5 Descriptive Statistics

Uploaded by

정우박
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 15

AP Psychology Unit 1 Topic 1.

Statistical
Analysis
Descriptive Statistics
Descriptive statistics describe a set of data, helps us understand things
more visually.

You might have seen them in the form


of histograms, or bar graphs, which is a
form of frequency polygon to measure
frequency distribution (how many times
a number occurs in a set of data).
Descriptive Statistics

The importance of reading the x and y axis labels.


Central Tendency
How a larger number of results (scores) tend to be the same
A measure of central tendency identifies what is average or typical in a
data set

The most common measures of central tendency are:


Mean: The average of scores in a distribution obtained by adding the scores
and then dividing by their number.

Median: The middle score in a rank-ordered distribution.

Mode: The most frequently occurring score in a distribution.


Mean
Most common
May be distorted by outliers or extreme scores (when this is the case,
median becomes the next best measure because it is closed to the
majority of scores)
Does not work in a skewed distribution
Skewed Distribution
The average is affected by some outlier or extreme scores
Positive skew includes a very high score, so the data set has more low
scores than high scores
Negative skew includes a very low score, so the data set has more high
scores than low scores
Skewed Distribution
In a positively skewed distribution, mean > median
In a negatively skewed distribution, mean < median

Example: if a group of friends have cars costing an avg. of $20,000 but one
friend has a car that cost $100,000, the mean of their data would be much
higher than what they actually spent
Measure of Variability
Another type of descriptive statistical measure
Looks at how data is distributed/how they vary

The most common measures are:


Range: The gap between the lowest and highest scores.

Standard Deviation: Measures of the average difference between the values;


a comparison to the mean value
Higher standard deviation = More spread out distribution
Standard Deviation
Which has a HIGH sd? Which has a LOW sd?

This is sigma, the


symbol for SD.
Standard Deviation
Which set of data has the highest
SD?
1,4,5,7,25
2,5,9,14,23
18, 23, 24, 27

What do you think a SD=0 means?

....No deviation from the mean! This graph shows a normal distribution curve
with SD along the x-axis.
Measure of Variability
Normally, you will see a standard distribution, we call it a bell curve or
normal curve
Most scores (68%) falls within one standard deviation of the mean, 95% falls
within two SDs, and almost 99% falls within three SDs. A good example of
this is our IQ

We use z scores to measure the distance of a score from the mean in terms
of units of SDs. z score =(x-μ)/σ
Measure of Variability
Measure of Variability
Great videos that demonstrate how SD is used:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRqtXL2WX2M

How is the z-score calculated:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tuBREK_mgE

Summary for the measures of variability:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7WTQ0H0Acc
Inferential Statistics
Determines whether the findings from a research can be applied to a
greater population, since the goal is always to have the tested sample be
as representative as possible of the general population.
The extend to which the sample differs from population is called
sampling error
T-test, chi square tests, and ANOVAs are all forms of inferential statistical
tests, these tests yield a p value (probability that the difference between
group is due to chance)
p value of 0.05 is the cutoff for statistically significant result, meaning
5% chance that the results occurred by chance.
This is also why it is important a research is replicable, so we know
things didn't happen by chance!
Review
Module 8 (textbook pages 72-73)
Practice MCQ & FRQ

Unit 2 (textbook page 74-77)


Key terms as suggested by the textbook and the vocabulary chart
given to you
Practice MCQ & FRQ

You might also like