PSY 2116 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Mean Squared Error, Missing Data, Sampling Distribution
13 Feb 2014
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Types of data analysis: quantitative methods, testing theories using numbers, qualitative methods, testing data using language (magazines, conversations) Initial observation: find something that needs explaining. Read existing research: generating theory and hypothesis, theories, hypothesis, falsification. The act of disproving a theory or hypothesis: collecting data to test theory, purpose of this stage: A hypothesized general principle that explains known findings about a topic and from which new hypotheses can be generated. 1) decide what to measure and 2) how to measure it: the what = variables, independent variable (predictor variable): Variable thought to be the cause of some effect. The variable manipulated in experimental designs: dependent variable (outcome variable): Variable that is affected by changes in an independent variable: categorical variable. Variables that are made up of categories. You must clearly fall into one category. There is no overlap between categories: continuous variable. Variables that give a score for each participant and the score can take on any value.
