PS101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Standard Deviation, Central Tendency, Blind Experiment
Document Summary
Theories and hypothesis (we will never have to memorize the definition of a theory, just apply it) A general principle or set of principles that explains how a number of separate facts are related to one another. Used to give basic information about what we find. Uses statistics such as the mean, the standard deviation, the range (known as measures of central tendency) Expect a distribution - normal (bell shaped) Variability - gives how spread out scores are from the mean. Little/low variability - all bunched up close to the mean. Standard deviation is an index score - based on the distribution. Tells where, in relation to the general plot of scores, the score falls. Add all the scores, then divide by the number of scores. Middle score (the one that falls in the middle of the distribution) Involves measuring and determining the relation between two variables. More rigorous in terms of control, empirical measurement and statistical analysis.
