Topic 8.2: Descriptive Stats

To establish whether there is a relationship
1. 1.The level of measurement of the variables
  1. (i.e. the scales used to measure variables in the sample)
2. 2.Goal of the study is either descriptive or inferential
  1. examine relationships between study variables and make inferences about that relationship in the population from which the sample was drawn).
Inferential
1. hypothesis test including p-value or confidence interval (CI) is
  1. estimate the likelihood that the observed relationship in the sample can be generalised to the population from which the sample was drawn.
  2. examined if there is a relationship between study variables
Descriptive
1. use graphs or tables,
  1. depending on the level of measurement of the variables,
  2. many different summary statistics designed to quantify the sample data
    1. usually dealing with one variable at a time, rather than relationships between variables
What they are
1. indispensable in quantitative research.
  1. basic methods used to summarise and present sample data.
    1. Analysis of possible independent/dependent variable relationships (in inferential analysis) is more meaningful
      1. whem firm understanding of how the measurements of independent variables (IV) and dependent variables (DV) are distributed
Common practice
1. first stages after data collection
  1. describe the values encountered in the data.
allow you to check for unusual, incorrect, unexpected values that caution,
1. encourage certain analyses.
  1. statistics are used to describe the shape, central tendency and variability in a set of data.
Common descriptive stats
1. Frequency distributions;
2. Measures of Central Tendency;
3. Measures of Dispersion;
4. Probability distributions (also called sampling distribution or distribution patterns)

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Topic 8.2: Descriptive Stats

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	Created by shirley.ha over 11 years ago