SOC222H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Statistical Inference, Descriptive Statistics, Common Application
Document Summary
Mathematical tools used to organize, summarize, and manipulate data. Making meaningful uses out of numbers - sort out information by summarizing characteristics and manipulating data. Ex. using height, weight and income info to organize and make a meaning out of it. Ex. statistics canada surveys on men and women being victims of domestic violence to see the difference between men and women frequencies. Type of logic which helps to clarify our things in life. Conducting research; 5 steps: developing research questions, deciding what to measure and how to measure it, collecting the data, analyzing data, answering research question. Statistics is one means by which research and theory interact. Theory hypothesis observations empirical generalizations. Role of statistics is in step 4 and 5 of the research. Choosing the unit of analysis depends on the nature of the research questions. Validity - measure what is supposed to be measured. Iq and intelligence - what is intelligence.
