PSYCH 100A Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Statistical Model, Confounding, Random Assignment
Document Summary
Science of stats: a good way of deciding whether an inductive statement is true. Pygmalion effect: people act in accordance with other people"s expectations. Some subset of the group under consideration is called a sample. 1: research design and statistical reasoning, pygmalion effect, populations versus sample, concept of probability of event: # of occurrences x over total. 3 critical lessons: psychological research begins with observation of human phenomena, samples make inferences about what happens in population, data is inconsistent. We must see probability theory to help us sort out what is true: always variability around the average. Sample vs. population (what is the researcher"s interest?) We try to prove that independent causes dependent. Confounding variable: extraneous variable in a statistical model that correlates (directly or indirectly) with both the dependent variable and the independent variable. P(e) = # of outcomes favorable to e/ total # of possible outcomes (likelihood)
