ECH3350 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Ceteris Paribus, Statistical Inference, Descriptive Statistics
1 Nov 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Quantitative research is explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data that are analyzed using mathematically based methods (in particular statistics) Descriptive statistics: description of central variables by statistical measures such as median, mean, standard deviation, and variance. Inferential statistics: test for a relationship between variables, at least one explanatory factor and one dependent variable. Unit of analysis: civil wars, terrorist acts, opinions, rapes. Population vs sample: it is possible to generalize the regression results for the sample under observation to the universe of cases (the population) Control variable: is the one element that is not changed throughout an experiment, because its unchanging state allows the relationship between other variables being tested to be better understood. Ceteris paribus assumption: assumption, often implicit, that all other variables are held at constant values when we consider the effect of changing ones ivs value on the dv. Multiple indicators: different indications capture different aspect of your phenomenon.
