Chapter 3 (Statistics Refresher)

Scales of Measurement Describing Data

Measurement Distribution
- The act of assigning numbers or symbols to characteristics - Set of test scores arrayed for recording or study.
of things according to rules.
Raw Score
Scale
- Straightforward, unmodified accounting of performance
- A set of numbers whose properties model empirical that is usually numerical.
properties of the objects to which the numbers are
assigned. Frequency Distribution
 Continuous Scale - All scores are listed alongside the number of times each
- Scale used to measure a continuous variable. score occurred.
- Measurement using continuous scales always involves  Simple Frequency Distribution
error. - Scores have been used and the data have not been
 Discrete Scale grouped.
- Scale used to measure discrete variable.  Grouped Frequency Distribution
- Test score intervals, also called class intervals, replaced
Error
the actual test scores.
- Collective influence of all the factors on a test score or
measurement beyond those specifically measured by the
Graph
test or measurement. - Is a diagram or chart composed of lines, points, bars,
Measurement always involves error. or other symbols that describes and illustrate data.
 Histogram
Error is very much an element of all measurement, and it is an - Is a graph with vertical lines drawn at the true limits of
element for which any theory of measurement must surely each test score, forming a series of contiguous
account. rectangles.
 Bar Graph
Nominal Scales
- Numbers indicative of frequency also appear on the y-
- Simplest form of measurement. axis and reference to some categorization appears on
- Involve classification or categorization. the x-axis.
 Frequency Polygon
Ordinal Scales - Expressed by a continuous line connecting the points
- Permit classification, rank ordering on some characteristics where test scores or class intervals meet frequencies.
is also permissible. - Measures of central Tendency
- Imply nothing about how much greater one ranking is than
- Measure of Central Tendency
another.
- Have no absolute zero point. - Statistic that indicates the average or midmost score
between the ectreme scores in a distribution.
Interval Scales
Arithmetic Mean
- Contain equal intervals between numbers.
- Contain I absolute zero point. - Denoted by the symbol x̅, is equal to the sum of the
observations divided by the number of
Ratio Scales observations.

- Has true zero point. Median

Measurement Scales in Psychology - Middle score in a distribution, is another commonly

used measure of central tendency.
- Intelligence, aptitude, and personality test scores are
ordinal.
Chapter 3 (Statistics Refresher)
Mode Normal Curve
- Bell-shaped, smooth, mathematically defined curve
- Most frequently occurring score in a distribution.
that is highest at its center.
 Bimodal Distribution
- Has two tails (standard deviations above the mean).
- There are two scores that occur with the highest frequency
Standard Scores
(of two).
- Raw score that has been converted from one scale to
Measures of Variability another scale, where the latter scale has some
arbitrarily set mean and standard deviation.
- Statistics that describe the amount of variation in a Z Scores
distribution. - Results from the conversion of a raw score into a
number indicating how many standard deviation units
Variability
the raw score is below or above the mean of the
- Indication of how scores in a distribution are scattered or distribution.
dispersed. Stanine
- Contraction of the words standard and nine.
Range
Linear Transformation
- Equal to the difference between the highest and the lowest - Retains a direct numerical relationship to the original
scores. raw score.
 Quartiles Nonlinear Transformation
- Dividing points between the four quartiles in the distribution. - May be required when the data under consideration
- Refers to a specific point. are not normally distributed yet comparisons with
 Quarter normal distributions need to be made.
- Refers to an interval. Coefficient of Correlation
 Interquartile Range - Number that provides us with an index of the
- Measure of variability equal to the difference between Q3 strength of the relationship between two things.
and Q1. Correlation
 Semi-interquartile Range - An expression of the degree and direction of
- Equal to the interquartile range divided by 2. correspondence between two things.
 Skewness Pearson’s r
- Lack of symmetry. - Pearson Correlation Coefficient / Pearson Product-
- Nature and extent to which symmetry is absent. moment Coefficient of Correlation
- An indication of how the measurement in a distribution are Coefficient of Determination
distributed. - Value obtained for the coefficient of correlation.
o Positive Skew Scatterplot
- Relatively few of the scores fall at the high end of the - Simple graphing of the coordinate points for values
distribution. of the x-variable and the y-variable.
o Negative Skew Curvilinearity
- Relatively few of the scores fall at the low end of the - “Eyeball gauge of how curved a graph is.
distribution.
Meta-analysis
Standard Deviation - Family of techniques used to statistically combine
information across studies to produce single
- Measure of variability equal to the square root of the estimates of the data under study.
average squared deviations about the mean. Effect Size
Kurtosis - Expressed as a correlation coefficient.

- Steepness of a distribution in its center.

 Platykurtic (relatively flat)
 Leptokurtic (relatively peaked)
 Mesokurtic (somewhere in the middle)