S W 318 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Statistical Inference, Empirical Relationship, Descriptive Statistics
Document Summary
Chapter 1: the what and why of statistics: Cause has to precede effect in time. There has to be an empirical relationship between cause and effect. The relationship cannot be explained by anything else. Data information represented by numbers which can be the subject of statistical analysis. Dependent variable the variable to be explained. Descriptive statistics procedures that help us organize and describe data collected from either a sample or a population. Dichotomous variable variable that has only two values. Empirical research research based on evidence that can be verifies by using out direct experience. Hypothesis a tentative answer to a research problem. Independent variable the variable expected to account for the dependent variable. Inferential statistics the logic and procedures concerned with making predictions or inferences about a population from observations and analyses of a sample. Interval-ratio measurement measurements for all cases are expressed in the same units. (example: age, income, or sat scores)