definition 1
Data:
facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis.
a fact or piece of data from a study of a large quantity of numerical data.
statistic
words, letters, and alpha-numeric symbols
nominal level of measurements
Control group:
a statistically significant portion of participants in an experiment that are shielded from exposure to variables
a third variable in a study examining a potential cause-and-effect relationship.
Confounding variable
Statistics:
the practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical data in large quantities, especially for the purpose of inferring proportions in a whole from those in a representative sample.
summary statistic that quantitatively describes or summarizes features from a collection of information, while descriptive statistics is the process of using and analyzing those statistics.
Descriptive statistics:
named, grouped and also ranked.
ordinal level of measurement
Experimental units
the entity a researcher wants to make inferences about (in the population) based on the sample (in the experiment).
when effects are seen in a group of people who did not actually receive a treatment.
Placebo effect
Population:
the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world
the process of using data analysis to infer properties of an underlying distribution of probability.
inferential statistics:
places variables in order.
interval level of measurement
Placebo
something that appears to the participants to be an active treatment, but does not actually contain the active treatment.
the concealment of group allocation from one or more individuals involved in a clinical research study
Blinding
Sample:
any quantity computed from values in a sample which is considered for a statistical purpose.
information that cannot be counted, measured or easily expressed using numbers
Qualitative data:
levels, or scales, of measurement
ratio level of measurement
Simulation
used to assess the performance of a method, typically when there is a lack of theoretical background.
one in which neither the participants nor the experimenters know who is receiving a particular treatment.
Double blind
Parameter:
any measured quantity of a statistical population that summarizes or describes an aspect of the population, such as a mean or a standard deviation.
research strategy that focuses on quantifying the collection and analysis of data
quantitative data:
genotype, blood type, zip code, gender, race, eye color, political party.
nominal level of measurement
Survey
A statistical survey is any structured inquiry designed to obtain aggregated data, which may be qualitative or quantitative where the individual or corporate identities of the respondents are in themselves of little significance.
the act of randomly assigning subjects in a study to different treatment groups.
Randomization