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Psychology - Psychology Measurement and Statistics

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    Study Guide Psychology – Psychology: Measurement and Statistics 1. Descriptive Statistics Descriptive statistics is a set of methods that help us summarize and describe data in a meaningful way. Before we can make sense of data, we need to organize it, measure it, and express it as numbers. Common ways to summarize data are measures of central tendency (like mean, median, and mode) and measures of variability (like range, variance, and standard deviation). 1. 1 Organizing Data The first step in working with data is usually organizing it visually . This makes patterns easier to see. Common tools for this include: • Frequency distributions • Histograms • Frequency polygons F requency Distribution A frequency distribution is a table that shows how often each value occurs. It’s a neat way to organize your data so you can see patterns at a glance. Example: How many hours students studied for an exam.

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    Study Guide In the table: • The tally column shows how many students fall into each category. • The frequency column converts those tallies into numbers. • The total hours studied column multiplies the number of hours by the frequency to show cumulative effort. Frequency Histogram A frequency histogram is a bar graph showing the same data from a frequency distribution. • Y - axis: number of students (frequency) • X - axis: hours studied Each bar’s height shows how many students studied that many hours.

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    Study Guide Frequency Polygon A frequency polygon is another way to graph data. Instead of bars, it connects points showing the frequency of each value. • Imagine connecting the midpoints of the bars from the histogram — that gives you a frequency polygon.

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    Study Guide 1. 2. Measures of Central Tendency Central tendency tells us the average or typical value of a dataset. There are three common measures: 1. Mean – the arithmetic average 2. Median – the middle value o Half of the observations fall below the median, and half above. o If there’s an even number of values, take the average of the middle two. o In our example: 6 hours is the median. 3. Mode – the value that appears most often o In the study hours example: 6 hours (8 students studied 6 hours). Graphical Representation of Central Tendency • When plotted on a curve, the mean, median, and mode can be visualized. o a) Normal distribution (mean = median = mode) o b) Negatively skewed (left skewed) o c) Positively skewed (right skewed)

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