DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
What measure of central tendency represents the average of all scores?
Mean
What is a sample?
A smaller group selected from a population.
What type of correlation exists when both variables increase together?
Positive correlation.
Researchers find that students who sleep more tend to have better grades.
Does this prove sleep causes better grades?
No.
Is thematic analysis qualitative or quantitative?
Qualitative.
What is the median of the following data?
4,6,7,8,10
7
What is the population?
The entire group researchers want to study.
What type of correlation exists when one variable increases while the other decreases?
Negative correlation.
What is a third variable?
An additional factor that may explain a relationship between two variables.
What is a theme?
A recurring pattern or idea found in qualitative data.
Which measure identifies the most frequently occurring value?
Mode
What does it mean to generalize findings?
Applying conclusions from a sample to a larger population.
What does a correlation coefficient of +0.90 suggest?
A strong positive correlation.
Ice cream sales and crime rates increase together.
Name a likely third variable.
Temperature/summer weather.
What is coding?
Labeling pieces of qualitative data to identify patterns.
The scores are:
5, 8, 12, 15, 20
What is the range?
15
Why are larger samples generally preferred?
They are more likely to represent the population and reduce random error.
What does a correlation coefficient of -0.80 suggest?
A strong negative correlation.
Which research method is best for establishing causation?
An experiment.
Students repeatedly mention feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and anxious.
What theme might emerge?
Academic stress/pressure.
Why might psychologists report both the mean and median?
Because outliers may affect the mean, while the median may better represent the typical score.
A psychologist surveys only athletes about school stress. What problem may exist?
Sampling bias; the sample may not represent all students.
Why does correlation not imply causation?
Because other variables may explain the relationship and no cause-effect relationship has been established.
Give one reason why correlational studies are still useful.
They help identify relationships and make predictions.
Why might two researchers identify different themes from the same data?
Interpretation can be subjective and influenced by researcher perspectives.