PSYA01H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Jane Goodall, Eye Color, Naturalistic Observation
Document Summary
Hypothesis is a statement and an underlying theory. Best theories are when you find out their wrong. If they cant be tested, they aren"t good theories or hypotheses. Variable: anything that can take on multiple values. Eye colour, for example can have the values of green, blue, brown, etc. (categorical variable) Height is a continuous variable because it lies on a continuum. Categorical vs continuous are normally based on measurements. Working with numbers to find an answer to your question. Take data and explain it clearly to others: descriptive stats. Taking data and turning it into a frequency table. Taking a distribution and getting the most typical point: central tendency. Want how tall and wide the measures are. Has all the information, but it takes up a lot of space. Mean: minimum possible distance from other points in the sample. Tries to simultaneously be close to the other data points (line of best fit like).
