PS102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Central Tendency, Standard Deviation, Falsifiability
Document Summary
Data explains and predicts observed phenomena falsifiable & testable prediction systematic observation. Research methods to achieve the goals: descriptive & experimental research. Naturalistic & laboratory (playground vs big brother) Case studies- special samples (e. g. , genie in linguistic isolation) Determine correlation (if there is relationship b/w variables) Determine if the hypothesis has been supported or if there is meaningful difference b/w groups: descriptive statistics: one variable. Uses statistics: mean, median, mode (measures of central tendency) Where do most of the scores lie? : standard deviation (measures of variability) Variability-gives how much variability a score has from the mean little variability: all bunched up close to the mean lots of variability: wide curve. Measures of central tendency: average score & is more affected by outliers than median. Median middle score & least affected by outliers. *(midterm & final exam) which to use mean or median frequently occurring score.
