Chapter 1: An Introduction to Statistics and Research Design

Two Branches of Statistics

• Descriptive statistics: Organizes, summarizes, and communicates a group of numerical
observations.
◦ EX: average length in feet (or meters) of sharks
• Inferential statistics: Use sample data to make estimates about the larger population.
◦ EX: Researchers did not actually measure every great white shark in the world, they
studied a smaller representative group of sharks to make an intelligent guess abut
the entire population.
• Sample: A set of observations drawn from the population of interest.
◦ EX: Average length of researcher’s sample of great white sharks
• Population: Includes all possible observations about which we’d like to now something.
◦ EX: Sample was used to estimate the average length of the entire world population
of great white sharks.

How to Transform Observations into Variables

• Variables: Observations of physical, attitudinal, and behavioral characteristics that can
take on different values.
◦ EX: Behavioral scientists often study asbstract variables such as motivation or self-
esteem.
• Discrete observations: Can only take on specific values (e.g., whole numbers); no
other values can exist between these numbers.
◦ EX: It is reasonable to assume that each participant could get up early 0 to 7 times
in any given week but not 1.6 or 5.92 times.
• Continuous observations: Can only take on a full range of values (e.g., numbers out to
several decimal places); an infinite number of potential values exist.
◦ EX: a person might complete a task in 12.83912 seconds, or a shark might be 13.83
feet long.
• Nominal variables: Used for observations that have categories or names as their
values.
◦ EX: For example, when entering data into a statistical computer program, a
researcher might code male participants with the number 1 and female participants
with the number 2. In this case, the numbers only identify the gender category for
each participant. They do not imply any other meaning (like men are better than
women).
• Ordinal variables: Used for observations that have rankings (i.e., 1st, 2nd, 3rd...) as
their values.
◦ EX: In reality television shows, like Britain’s Got Talent or American Idol, for
example, a performer finishes the season in a particular place, or rank. Like
nominal variables, ordinal variables are always discrete. A singer could be 1st or
3rd or 12th, but could not be ranked 1.563.
Continuous Variables
• Internal Variables: Used for observations that have numbers as their values; the
distance (or interval) between pairs of consecutive numbers is assumed to be equal.
◦ EX: Temperature is an interval variable because the interval from one degree to the
next is always the same.
◦ EX: Some interval variables are also discrete variables, such as the number of times
one has to get up early each week. This is an interval variable because the distance
between numerical observations is assumed to be equal. The difference between 1
and 2 times is the same as the difference between 5 and 6 times. However, this
observation is also discrete because, as noted earlier, the number of days in a week
cannot be anything but a whole number.
• Ratio Variables: Variables that meet the criteria for interval variables but also have
meaningful zero points.
◦ EX: If someone never has to get up early, then zero is a meaningful observation and
could represent a variety of life circumstances. Perhaps the person is unemployed,
retired, ill, or merely on vacation.
◦ EX: Stroop Test -> Many cognitive studies use the ratio variable of reaction time to
measure how quickly people process difficult information.
◦ **If it’s possible to never do something (have a zero)**
• Scale Variables: Variables that meet the criteria for an interval variable or a ratio
variable. Variables that are interval OR ratio.

Variables and Research

• Levels: The discrete values or conditions that variables can take on.
◦ EX: The variable gender has two levels - male or female.
• Independent Variable: Has at least two levels that we either manipulate or observe to
determine its effects on the dependent variable.
◦ EX: If we are studying whether gender predicts one’s attitude about politics, then
the independent variable is gender.
• Dependent Variable: The outcome variable that we hypothesize to be related to or
caused by changes in the independent variable.
◦ If in doubt as to which is the independent variable and which is the dependent
 variable, ask yourself which one depends on the other; that one is the dependent
variable.
• Confounding Variable: Any variable that systematically varies with the independent
variable so that we cannot logically determine which variable is at work.
◦ EX: Suppose you want to lose weight, so you start using a diet drug and begin
exercising at the same time. The drug and the exercising are confounded because
you cannot logically tell which one is responsible for any weight loss.

Reliability and Validity

• Reliability: Refers to the consistency of a measure. A reliable measure is consistent.
◦ EX: If you were to weigh yourself on your bathroom scale now, and then again in an
hour, you would expect your weight to be almost exactly the same.
• Validity: Refers to the extent to which a test actually measures what it is intended to
measure.
◦ EX: Your bathroom scale could be incorrect but consistently incorrect—that is,
reliable but not valid.
• A measure must be both reliable (consistent over time) and valid (assesses what it is
intended to assess).

Introduction to Hypothesis Testing

• Hypothesis Testing: The process of drawing conclusions about whether a particular
relation between variables is supported by the evidence.
• Operational Definition: Specifies the operations or procedures used to measure or
manipulate a variable.
◦ EX: We could operationalize a good outcome with a new dog in several ways. Did
you keep the dog for more than a year? On a rating scale of satisfaction with your
pet, did you get a high score?

Conducting Experiments to Control for Confounding Variables

• Correlation: An association between two or more variables.
◦ A correlation is one way to test a hypothesis, but it is not the only way. Researchers
usually prefer to conduct an experiment rather than a correlational study because it
is easier to interpret the results of experiments.
• Random Assignment: Every participant in the study has an equal chance of being
assigned to any of the groups, or experimental conditions, in the study.
• Experiment: A study in which participants are randomly assigned to a condition or
level of one of more independent variables.
◦ EX: When researchers conduct experiments, they create approximately equivalent
groups by randomly assigning participants to different levels, or conditions, of the
independent variable. Random assignment controls the effects of personality traits, life
experiences, personal biases, and other potential confounds by distributing them evenly
across each condition of the experiment.
Between-Groups Design versus Within-Groups Design
• Between-Groups: An experiment in which participants experience one and only one
level of the independent variable.
◦ EX: An experiment that compares a control group with an experimental group is an
example of a between-groups design.
• Within-Groups: An experiment in which all participants in the study experience the
different levels of the independent variable.
◦ EX: Comparing individuals within one level of the independent variable.
• Longitudinal: Long-term studies.

Correlational Research
• Correlation does not imply causation!!!!
• Outlier: An extreme score that is either very high or very low in comparison with the
rest of the scores in the sample.
• Outlier Analysis: Studies examining observations that do not fit the overall pattern of
the data, in an effort to understand the factors that influence the dependent variable.