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WHAT IS A MISSING, CONFUSING, SCARY, AND AUTHORITATIVE NUMBER? MISSING: RELEVANT INFORMATION THAT IS OMITTED CONFUSING: NUMBERS THAT ARE AMBIGIOUS SCARY: NUMBERS THAT EXAGGERATE THEH PROBABILITY OF BAD EVENTS AUTHORITATIVE: NUMBERS PUSHED BY AUTHORITY FIGURE THAT WE TEND TO BELIEVE ARE STATISTICS

WHAT ARE SHIVELY’S FIVE CRITERIA FOR A GOOD THEORY? GIVE A BRIEF ONE SENTENCE STATEMENT ON EACH. CONSISTENCY: MUST BE CONSISTENT WITH PRIOR EVIDENCE ON RESEARCH QUESTION FALSIFIABILITY: SCIENTISTS CAN PROVE THEORY FALSE WITH EVIDENCE GENERALIZABLE: CAPABLE OF GENERATING TO MANY OTHER OBSERVATIONS PARSIMONY: MAKE IT SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE LEVERAGE: EXPLAIN A COMPLICATED EFFECT WITH AS FEW CAUSAL VARIABLES AS POSSIBLE

HOW IS SCIENCE A PROCESS? WHY IS SCIENCE BETTER THAN TRADITION, INTUITION, or AUTHORITY? SCIENCE IS EMPIRICAL. IT’S A SYSTEMATIC AND COMPARATIVE DISCIPLINE WHERE RESEARCHERS DEBATE PUBLICLY, SHARE DISCOVERY, AND IS MAINLY OPEN TO CRITICISM AND TESTING. TRADITION, INTUITION AND AUTHORITY DO NOT SHARE THESE PROPERTIES.

HOW DOES A SCIENTIST INTERACT WITH COMMON SENSE AND CRITICISM? “IF YOU’RE A GOOD SCIENTIST, YOU’RE OPTOMISTIC, SELF- CONFIDENT, AND OPEN TO CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM.” SCIENCE IS OPEN TO CRITICISM LIKE NO OTHER DISCIPLINE IS. IN ADDITION, THEORY ALSO EXPANDS PERCEPTIONS BECAUSE OF EMPHASIS ON GENERAL KNOWLEDGE AND CAN SPECIFY THE CONDITIONS IN WHICH THOSE RULES APPLY.

WHAT ARE THE THREE MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SCIENCE AND LAW/BUSINESS? IN SCIENCE, CORRECT INFORMATION IS THE PRIMARY GOAL. IN SCIENCE, WE ARE ORIENTED TOWARD THE TRUTH. IN SCIENCE, THERE IS A PUBLIC COMPETITION.

WHAT IS AND WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THEORY, CONCEPTS, AND VARIABLES? GIVE AN EXAMPLE. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO THIS IN YOUR SLEEP. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO POINT THIS OUT WHEN YOU’RE LOOKING AT TRENDS AS WELL.

WHAT IS AN INDEPENDENT AND WHAT IS A DEPENDENT VARIABLE? HOW DO THESE DIFFER FROM CONCEPTS? INDEPENDENT: VARIABLE AFFECTING THE OUTCOME DEPENDENT: OUTCOME VARIABLE VARIABLES ARE MEASUREMENTS CONCEPTS ARE IDEAS YOU GO FROM CONCEPTS TO VARIABLES: IDEAS TO MEASUREMENT

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A UNIDIMENSIONAL AND MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONCEPT? UNIDIMENSIONAL CONCEPTS ARE UNIEQUIVOCAL AND SIMPLE. MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONCEPTS ARE HARDER TO UNDERSTAND AND VARY FROM READER TO READER.

HOW IS THE CONCEPT OF OPERATIONALIZATION RELATED TO THEORY BUIDLING, ESPECIALLY IN THE SCIENCES? OPERATIONALIZING DIFFERENT VARIABLES, WHAT WE DID IN ASSIGNMENT #4, IS BASICALLY TRIAL AND ERROR. WE ARE TRYING TO EMPLOY COMMON SENSE AND WE ARE CRITICAL OF OUR OWN METHODS IN ORDER TO GET AS CLOSE TO THE TRUTH AS POSSIBLE. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

HOW DOES STATISTICAL LITERACY RELATE TO WHAT WE’VE BEEN LEARNING IN THIS CLASS? STATISTICAL LITERACY IS THE ABILITY TO THINK CRITICALLY ABOUT STATISTICS. ANYTHING WE DO IN THIS CLASS IS ATTEMPTING TO HAVE YOU THINK CRITICALLY ABOUT STATISTICS. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

WHAT IS RELIABLITY? WHAT IS VALIDITY? REFERS TO HOW WELL YOUR VARIABLES MEASURES ITS CONCEPT (OPERATIONALIZATION) RELIABILITY IS CONSISTENCY: YOUR MEASURE WILL GET THE RESULT WHEN IT’S TESTED OVER AND OVER AGAIN VALIDITY IS ACCURACY: YOU’RE PURPORTING YOUR MEASURE IS WHAT YOU WANT TO MEASURE. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

DESCRIBE NONRANDOM AND RANDOM ERROR AND HOW THEY RELATE TO RELIABLITY AND VALIDITY. NON RANDOM ERROR RELATES BACK TO VALIDITY. NON RANDOM ERROR IS A SYSTEMATIC ERROR USUALLY FROM USING COMING FROM THE INSTRUMENT ITSELF. RANDOM ERROR RELATES BACK TO RELIABLITY. RANDOM ERROR USUALLY PARALLELS THE TRUE RELATIONSHIP, BUT IS OFF DUE TO INCONSISTENCY IN THE MEASURE. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

A SURVEY ASKS YOU TO REPORT YOUR INCOME, ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST THOUSAND DOLLARS. WHAT LEVEL OF MEASUREMENT IS THIS? INTERVAL: WE CAN MEASURE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CATEGORIES OF INCOME AND THOSE DIFFERENCES ARE MEASURABLE BY A THOUSAND DOLLARS. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

YOU ASK A QUESTION ON A SURVEY THAT ASKS OBAMA OR MCCAIN. YOU COMPARE THAT TO THE ACTUAL RESULTS ON NOV. 5. YOUR RESULTS ARE VALID. WHAT TYPE OF VALIDITY IS THIS? PREDICITIVE VALIDITY (OR CRITERION-RELATED VALIDITY). BE PREPARED TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ON ALL DIFFERENT TYPES OF VALIDITY OR BE PREAPARED TO IDENTIFY WHY A MEASURE IS VALID. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

YOUR THEORY PREDICTS SOMEONE WILL GET A SCORE OF 89 ON A TEST. THEIR ACTUAL SCORE WAS 83. WHAT’S THE ERROR SCORE AND GIVE POTENTIAL REASONS FOR THIS ERROR. THE ERROR SCORE IS 6. THIS CAN BE THE RESULT OF EITHER AN UNRELIABLE OR INVALID MEASURE THAT WE USED IN THE SURVEY. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

WHAT IS THE MEAN OF THESE FIVE NUMBERS: 5, 10, 10, 5, = 35/5 = 7 Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

THE MIDTERM GRADES COME BACK AND WE GRAPH THE RESULTS. WE SEE A GRAPH THAT IS SKEWED TO THE RIGHT. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? THIS MEANS THAT MORE PEOPLE SCORED HIGHER ON THE MIDTERM THAN SCORED LOWER. OUR MEDIAN IS LARGER THAN THE MEAN. Lee NajjarLee Najjar. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS WOULD YOU USE THE MEDIAN RATHER THAN THE MEAN AS A MEASURE OF CENTRAL TENDENCY? WHY? IF YOU HAVE SOME VERY HIGH OR LOW SCORERS IN YOUR DATA, YOU’LL HAVE OUTLIERS THAT WILL THROW YOUR MEAN OFF AND MAKE IT ARTIFICIALLY HIGH OR LOW. IN THIS CASE, A MEDIAN IS THE BETTER INDICATOR OF A CENTRAL TENDENCY. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

A STUDY FINDS THAT PREGANANT WOMEN WHO HEAVILY USE CELL PHONES ARE FOUND TO HAVE CHILDREN WHO HAVE BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS. WHAT ARE SOME POTENTIAL PROBLEMS OF CAUSALITY? BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS DO NOT ARISE UNTIL A CHILD IS USUALLY A TODDLER OR OF SCHOOL AGE. IT IS REALLY DIFFICULT TO ESTABLISH CAUSALITY BECAUSE MANY THINGS CAN AFFECT A CHILD’S BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS BEFORE THEY START DISPLAYING BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

IF WE REJECT THE NULL HYPOTHESIS, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? THE NULL HYPOTHESIS IS THE OPPOSITE OF THE RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS WE PROPOSE. IF WE REJECT THE NULL, THIS MEANS THAT OUR RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS IS TRUE AND THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE VARIABLES. IF WE ACCEPT THE NULL, THERE IS NO RELATIONSHIP. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

WHAT DO THE MARGINALS IN TABLES TELL US? IT TELLS US THE SUM OF THAT COLUMN OR ROW. SIGMA ( Σ ) REPRESENTS SUM. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

WHAT IS A CONTROL VARIABLE AND HOW DOES IT WORK IN TABLES? A CONTROL VARIABLE IS A VARIABLE THAT MAY POTENTIALLY CHANGE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO OTHER VARIABLES. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar. SouthNorth MenWomenMenWomenMenWomen Not Agg Agg

WHAT IS A T-TEST? WHAT DOES IT DO? A T-TEST COMPARES THE MEANS OF TWO DIFFERENT GROUPS IN ORDER TO SEE IF THERE’S A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO GROUPS. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

WHAT IS STATISTICAL INDEPENDENCE? STATISTICAL INDEPENDENCE MEANS THAT THE ODDS OF ONE EVENT IS UNAFFECTED BY THE ODDS OF ANOTHER EVENT HAPPENING. FOR EXAMPLE, YOU CAN GET 500 HEADS ON 500 SUCCESSIVE COIN FLIPS, BUT THE 501TH TIME, THE ODDS ARE STILL 50/50. Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar.

HOW DO YOU CALCULATE CHI- SQUARED? THE SUM OF THE (OBSERVED FREQUENCY – EXPECTED FREQUENCY)^2 OVER THE EXPECTED FREQUENCY. (O-E^2)/E Lee NajjarLee Najjar.Lee NajjarLee Najjar. CategoryObserved Frequency Expected Frequency Difference of O and E (O-E)^2Chi- Squared For Maybe Against