Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS AND RESEARCH

JOHN IAN WILZON T. DIZON
 2

“Chance favors the prepared mind.”

- Louis Pasteur
 Goals in this Chapter

 The logic of research and the purpose

of statistical procedures
 Population, Sample, Variables
 What the difference is between an
experiment and a correlational study,
and what the independent variable,
the conditions, and the dependent
variable are
 When and why descriptive and
inferential statistical procedures are
used
 What the four scales of measurement
are
Learning About Statistics
 What is Statistics?

Statistics is the study of how to collect,

organize, analyse, and interpret numerical
information from data.
 What is Statistics?

Statistics help make sense of data in four ways:

• Organize scores to see patterns
• Summarize data to understand general characteristics
• Communicate results of a study
• Interpret what the data indicate
The Logic of Research
 Behavioral Research

The goal of behavioral research is to understand the

“laws of nature” that apply to the behaviors of living
organisms.
 Samples and Populations

 The entire group to which a law of nature applies

is the population
 A sample is a relatively small subset of a
population intended to represent, or stand in for,
the population
 The people measured in a sample are called the
participants/individuals
 Samples and Populations

 Use the scores in a sample to infer—that is, to

estimate—the scores we would expect to find in
the population.
 This assumes a sample is representative of the
population.
 If a sample is unrepresentative, it inaccurately
reflects the population. Unrepresentative samples
may give misleading results.
 Understanding Variables

A variable is the characteristic of the individual to be

measured or observed. Some common variables in
behavioral research are:
• Age
• Race
• Gender
• Personality type
• Physical attributes
 Understanding Variables

 Data are the values (measurements or

observations) that the variables can
assume.
 Types of Variables

The two categories of variables are:

• Quantitative variables in which

a score indicates the amount
of a variable that is present
and
• Qualitative variables that
classify or categorize an
individual on the basis of some
characteristic
 Descriptive and
Inferential Statistics
 Applying Statistics

 Descriptive statistics involves methods of organizing, picturing,

and summarizing information from samples or populations.
 Inferential statistics involves methods of using information from
a sample to draw conclusions regarding the population.
 Statistics Vs. Parameters

A statistic is a number
describing an aspect of the
scores in a sample
A parameter is a number
describing
an aspect of the scores in
the population
 Statistics Vs. Parameters

 Statistics are represented using English letters such

as A, B, C, etc.
 Parameters are represented using Greek letters
such as a, b, c, etc.
Understanding Relationships
 Relationships

In a relationship, as the scores on one variable

change, the scores on the other variable change in
a consistent manner.
 Types of Relationships

Simple relationships have one of two patterns. If we

call one variable X and the other variable Y, then
• Pattern 1: The more you X, the more you Y
• Pattern 2: The more you X, the less you Y

Example: The more you drive distracted, the more

likely it is you will have an accident (Pattern 1).
The more you exercise, the lesser the
chance that you’ll be physically unfit (Pattern 2).
 Relationship Consistency

 If a score on one variable is always paired with

one and only one score on the other variable, we
have a perfectly consistent relationship.
 Perfect consistency is not required to have a
relationship, only some degree of consistency. This
means as the scores on one variable change, the
scores on the other variable tend to change in a
consistent fashion.
Understanding Experiments and
Correlational Studies
 Research Designs

 A study’s design is the way the study is laid out

 Different designs require different descriptive and
inferential procedures, so learn when to use each
procedure
 There are two major types of designs:
 Experiments
 Correlational studies
 Experiments

In an experiment, the researcher actively changes or

manipulates one variable and then measures participants’
scores on another variable to see if a relationship is produced.
 The Independent Variable

 Theindependent variable is
changed or manipulated by
the experimenter
A condition is the specific
amount or category of the
independent variable
creating the specific situation
under which participants are
studied
 The Dependent Variable

The dependent variable is the variable measuring a behavior or

attribute of participants we expect will be influenced by the
independent variable.
 Can You?

Identify the independent variable, the conditions of

the independent variable, and the dependent
variable for the following study:

The effect of an intensive summer school college

preparatory program (compared to no program)
on the GPAs of at-risk freshmen students.
 Correlational Studies

In a correlational study, the researcher measures participants’

scores on two variables and then determines whether a
relationship exists.
The Characteristics of Scores
 Measurement Scales

The kind of information scores convey depends on

the scale of measurement used. There are four types
of measurement scales:
• A nominal scale does not measure an amount;
rather, it categorizes or classifies individuals. It
consists of names, labels, or categories.
• An ordinal scale indicates rank order. There is no
score of 0 (zero), and the same amount does not
separate every pair of adjacent scores.
 Measurement Scales (cont’d)

• An interval scale indicates an actual quantity, they

can be arranged in order, and there is an equal
amount separating any adjacent scores. Interval
scales do not have a “true” 0.
• A ratio scale also measures an actual quantity, they
can be arranged in order, and there is an equal
amount separating any adjacent scores, and there is
a true 0 value.
 Continuous Versus Discrete

Any variable also may be either continuous or

discrete.
 A continuous variable can be measured in
fractional amounts and so decimals make sense
 A discrete variable can only be measured in fixed
amounts, which cannot be broken into smaller
amounts
 Examples
For each of the following variables, indicate (1) the
measurement scale and (2) whether it is continuous or
discrete:
 The number of tickets sold to an event
 Your flavor preferences in soft drinks
 Weight
 IQ
 Examples

The number of tickets sold to an event

 ratio, discrete
Your flavor preferences in soft drinks

 nominal, discrete
Weight

 interval, continuous
IQ
 interval, continuous