PSYC 60 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Statistical Inference, Statistic, Continuous Or Discrete Variable
Document Summary
Sample a set of individuals selected from a population. Usually want them to be representative (not biased) Parameters describes a population (ex. avg gpa for all uc students) Statistics describes a sample (ex. avg gpa for ucsd students) Descriptive statistics summarize, organize, and simplify. provides us with a better way to make sense of data (i. e. put it in a graph) Inferential statistics study sample and allow generalizations about populations which sample was made. Sampling error discrepancy between sample statistic and the population parameter can be reduced by: using a larger sample, using random selection. Two (or more) variables are observed to see if there is a relationship (how linked are the two variables?) this provides no information about causality. Goal is to establish causal relationships between variables - requires manipulation and control. Between subjects variable a characteristic that varies between subjects (each subject is only measured in one condition)
