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UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH
RESULTS: DESCRIPTION AND
CORRELATION
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Contrast three ways of describing result
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Compare group percentages
Correlating scores
Comparing group means
Describe frequency distributions
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Describe the measures of central tendency and
variability
Define a correlation coefficient
Define effect size
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Describe the use of a regression equation and a
multiple correlation to predict behavior
Discuss how a partial correlation addresses the
third-variable problem
Summarize the purpose of structural models
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Nominal
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Ordinal
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Order the levels from lowest to highest
Interval
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No numerical, quantitative properties
Levels represent different categories or groups
Intervals between levels are equal in size
Can be summarized using means
No absolute zero
Ratio
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Equal intervals
Absolute zero
Can be summarized using mean
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Three basic ways to describe results:
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Comparing Group Percentage
Correlating Individual Scores
Comparing Group Means
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Graphing Frequency Distributions
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Pie charts
Bar graphs
Frequency polygons
Histograms
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Central Tendency
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Mean
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Median (Mdn)
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Found by adding all the scores and dividing by the number of
scores
Indicates central tendency with interval or ratio scales
The middlemost score, or score that divides the group in half (with
50% scoring below and 50% scoring above the median)
Indicates central tendency with ordinal, interval, and ratio scales
Mode
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Most frequently occurring score
Indicates central tendency with all scales including nominal scales
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Variability – the amount of spread in the
distribution of scores
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Standard deviation = (s) (SD) in reports
Range
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Difference between highest and lowest score
Variance (s²)
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Square of the standard deviation
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
y-axis or ordinate
x-axis or abscissa
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Pearson r: the Correlation Coefficient
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Pearson’s r indicates:
Strength of relationship
 Direction of relationship
 Values of r range from 0.00 to ±1.00
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Can be described visually using scatterplots
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Restriction of Range
Curvilinear Relationship
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Refers to the strength of association between
variables
Pearson r is one indicator of effect size
Advantage of reporting effect size is that it
provides a scale of values that is consistent
across all types of studies
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Differences in effect sizes
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Small effects near r = .15
Medium effects near r = .30
Large effects above r = .40
Squared value of the coefficient r² - transforms
the value of r to a percentage
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Percent of shared variance between the two
variables
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Infers whether the results will hold up if the
experiment is repeated several times, each time
with a new sample of research participants
Inferential Statistics
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Calculations used to predict a person’s score on one
variable when that person’s score on another variable
is already known
General Form:
Y = a + bX
Y = Score we wish to predict
X = Score that is known
a = constant
b = weighing adjustment
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Used to combine a number of predictor
variables to increase the accuracy of prediction
of a given criterion or outcome variable
Symbolized R
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Provides a Way of Statistically Controlling
Third Variables
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Structural Equation Models
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Describe expected pattern of relationships between
/ among quantitative, non-experimental variables
After data collection statistics describe how well
the data fits the model
Path diagrams
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A visual representation of the model being tested
Show theoretical causal paths
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Path analysis
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Used to study modeling
Arrows lead from variable to variable
Statistics provide path coefficients
Similar to standardized weights in regression equations
 Indicate the strength of relationship between variables
in the path
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© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Expected Pattern of Relationships Among a
Set of Variables
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.