RESEARCH STATISTICS

DEFINITION OF TERMS
STATISTICS - The collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of numerical information. DATA - Numbers obtained by measuring, observing, or counting real objects or events in the physical world. POPULATION - The complete set of measurements or observations that interest the person collecting a sample. CENSUS - The process by which we collect data on every element of the population. SAMPLE - A subset of a population. RANDOM SAMPLE - A subset of a population selected in such a way that each member has an equal chance of being chosen; each sample of a given size has an equal chance of being selected. VARIABLE - A characteristic of an individual or object that is measurable and takes on different values. STATISTIC A summary numerical value calculated from a sample. PARAMETER - A summary numerical value calculated from a population. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS - Procedures used to summarize information about samples in a convenient and understandable form. INFERENTIAL STATISTICS - Making or drawing conclusions about populations from samples and deciding upon courses of action. QUALITATIVE VARIABLES - Variables that differ in kind rather than degree. DICHOTOMOUS VARIABLES - Qualitative variables in which there are only two categories (either-or) MULTINOMIAL VARIABLES - Qualitative variables in which there are more then two categories. QUANTITATIVE VARIABLES - Variables that differ in degree rather than kind. DISCRETE VARIABLES - Variables that can take on values only at specific points along a scale values. CONTINUOUS VARIABLES - Variables that can take on any functional value along a scale. PROPORTION - With qualitative variables, relative frequency of occurrence; found by dividing the frequency in a given category by n (the sample size).

PERCENTAGE - Proportion multiplied by 100. RAW DATA - Numerical observations prior to any statistical treatment. ARRAY - Data that are ordered either from high to low or vice versa. FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION - When data are arranged to their magnitude, a frequency distribution shows the frequency of occurrence in each class. WIDT - The width of a class is equal to its upper boundary minus its lower boundary. MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE - Two events are said to be mutually exclusive if they cannot occur simultaneously. CLASS LIMIT - Upper or lower boundary of a class. MIDPOINT - A value halfway between the two class limits. RELATIVE FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION - When data are arranged according to their magnitude, a relative frequency distribution shows the proportion or percentage within each class. HISTOGRAM - A bar chart used with quantitative variables. FREQUENCY POLYGON - A closed geometric figure used to represent a frequency distribution. RELATIVE FREQUENCY POLYGON - A closed geometric figure used to represent a relative frequency distribution. CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION - A distribution that shows the total number of observations that fall below various points in a distribution. MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY - Indexes that locate the center of a data set. ARITHMETIC MEAN - Sum of the values of a variable divided by the number of observations. WEIGHTED MEAN - Sum of the values of a variable multiplied by their respective weights and divided by the sum of the weights. MODE - The value of the variable that occurs with the greatest frequency. NORMAL CURVE - Frequency distribution with a characteristic bell-shaped form. SKEWED DISTRIBUTION - Frequency distribution that departs from symmetry and tails of at one end. POSITIVELY SKEWED DISTRIBUTION - Frequency distribution with relatively fewer measurements occurring at the high end of the horizontal axis. NEGATIVELY SKEWED DISTRIBUTION - Frequency distribution with relatively fewer measurements occurring at the low end of the horizontal axis.

RANGE - A measure of dispersion; the difference between the largest and the smallest score. FRACTILE - A point below which some specific proportion or percentage fall. QUARTILE - Numbers that divide a distribution into four equal parts. INTERQUARTILE RANGE - The score at the third quartile (Q3) minus the score at the first quartile (Q1); includes the middle 50 percent of observations. CLASSICAL APPROACH TO PROBABILITY - The assignment of probability values on the basis of theoretical expectations in a hypothetical population. EXPERIMENT - The process by which we obtain measurements or observations of different outcomes. OUTCOME - A single possible result of an experiment; one that cannot be further subdivided. EXHAUSTIVE Outcome are exhaustive if the sum of their separate probabilities is equal to 1.00. MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE - Two or more outcomes that cannot occur simultaneously. EMPIRICAL OR RELATIVE APPROACH TO PROBABILITY - The assignment of probability values based on the observed relative frequency with which that outcome occurred in the past. COMPLEMENT - The complement of an outcome is its opposite. SUBJECTIVE APPROACH TO PROBABILITY The assignment of probability values based on the individuals belief or confidence that a particular outcome will occur. SAMPLE SPACE - All possible outcomes of an experiment. SAMPLE POINT - An element in the sample space. EVENT - A collection of specific sample points or outcomes.