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CJ Methods Test #2
test #2 with Dr. Exum
24
Criminal Justice
Undergraduate 4
10/31/2012

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Cards

Term
What level(s) of measurement is the frequency distribution designed to describe?
Definition
nominal
ordinal
ratio
Term
In a bar graph the 'bars':
Definition
don't touch
Term
In a histogram the 'bars':
Definition
touch/are continual
Term
What level(s) of measurement is a bar graph designed to describe?
Definition
nominal/ordinal
Term
What level(s) of measurement is a histogram designed to describe?
Definition
ratio
Term
Normal distribution
Definition
bell-shaped
one peak with two tails
right side is mirror image of left
Term
Bi-modal distribution
Definition
2 peaks (set of clusters)
Term
Uniform (flat) distribution
Definition
roughly the same # for every attribute
Term
What are the measures of central tendency?
Definition
mean
median
mode
Term
mean
Definition
"the average"
"the value around which all deviations sum to zero"
great measure; use it when you can
designed for ratio level measures
highly influenced by skewness and outliers
-still mathematically correct
-but can be misleading
Term
median
Definition
• the attribute falling in the middle of a rank ordered set of scores
• attribute that falls at the 50th percentile
• EX- data from 7 people in rank order (odd number)
 0,0,1,2,3,7,8
 median= attribute at 4th position (2)
• EX- data from 8 people in rank order (even number
 0,0,1,2,3,7,8,10
 median=average of 4th & 5th positions
• average of 2 and 3= 2.5 median
• not as functional as the mean
• Not sensitive to outliers/skewness
• The variable must be ordinal or ratio (must put attributes in rank order; you cant rank nominal)
Term
mode
Definition
• simplest measure of central tendency
• the attribute that occurs most often (has the highest frequency)
 NOT how many times it occurs
• Not as functional as the median (or mean)
• A variable can have more than 1 (bi-modal)
• Not sensitive to outliers/skewness
• The only central tendency measure you can use with nominal data
Term
what are the measures of variability?
Definition
range
standard deviation
variance
Term
range
Definition
o -simplest measure
o -Range=highest-lowest
o -Larger range=more variability
-Weakness of the range
-Sensitive to outliers
-ignored the variability of the scores “in the middle”
Term
What are the 3 criteria for determining causality?
Definition
temporal order
correlation
rule out spuriousness
Term
What does random assignment mean?
Definition
Randomly assigned to control group/experimental group
Term
what do measures of central tendency do?
Definition
# that tells us where a variables attributes tend to fall
Term
off-line outliers
Definition
make a football fatter

pearson r will be lower (i.e.- weaker) b/c of its outlier
Term
"on-line" outliers
Definition
make football skinnier

pearson r will be higher (i.e. stronger) b/c of this outlier
Term
3 rules for using the measures of central tendency
Definition
1. use mean whenever appropriate
-ratio data that is normally distributed (or approximately normal)

2. if you cant use the mean, use the median (if appropriate)
-ordinal data, or ratio data that are highly skewed or have outliers

3. if you cant use the median use mode
-when you have nominal data
Term
"double blind" experiments
Definition
-participants dont know what group they are in
-researcher collecting/analyzing data doesn't know
-3rd party knows but doesn't reveal info until data are analyzed
Term
statistically significant
Definition
does not necessarily mean big instead it says the finding is REAL, we believe it exist in our population
Term
correlation matrix
Definition
a table showing the correlation between all possible combinations of variables

univariate analysis/statistics- 1 variable
bivariate analysis/statistics- 2 variables
multivariate analysis/statistics- 3+ variables
Term
attrition (morality)
Definition
is the loss of participants over time due to refusal to participate, inability to reestablish content, death, etc.
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