Statistic Vocabulary

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Observational Study

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A researcher observes and measures characteristics of interest of part of a population.

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Experiment

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A treatment is applied to part of a population and responses are observed.

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Simulation

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Uses a mathematical or physical model to reproduce the conditions of a situation or process.
-Often involves the use of computers

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Survey

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An investigation of one of more characteristics of a population.
- commonly done by interview, mail, or telephone.

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Confounding Variable

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Occurs when an experimenter cannot tell difference between the effects of different factors on a variable.

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Placebo Effect

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A subject reacts favorably to a placebo when in fact he or she has been given to medical treatment at all.

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Blinding

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technique where the subject does not know whether he or she is receiving a treatment or a placebo

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Double Blind

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experiment neither the subject nor the experimenter knows if the subject is receiving a treatment or a placebo.

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Randomization

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a process of randomly assigning subjects to different treatment groups.

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Randomized block design

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Divide with similar characteristics into blocks, and then within each block, randomly assign subjects to treatment groups.

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Matched-Pairs design

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subjects are paired up according to similarity. One subject in the pair is randomly selected to receive one treatment while the other subject receives a different treatment.

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Replication

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The repetition of an experiment using a large group of subjects

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Biased Sample

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a sample is collected in such a way that some members of the intended population are less likely to be included than others

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Cenus

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an official count or survey of a population, typically recording various details of individuals.

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Sampling Error

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error in a statistical analysis arising from the unrepresentativeness of the sample taken.

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Random sample

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every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected

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Simple Random Sample

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Every possible sample of the same size has the same chance of being selected

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Stratified Sample

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divide a population into groups (strata) and select a random sample from each group

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Cluster Sample

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Divide the population into groups (clusters) and select all of the members in one or more, but not all, of the clusters

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Systematic Sample

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Choose a starting value at random. Then choose every kth member of the population

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Convenience Sample

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a type of sample that often leads to biased studies
-consists only of available members of the population

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Quantitative Data

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consists of numerical measurements or counts

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Qualitative Data

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consists of attributes, labels, or nonnumerical entries.

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Nominal Level of Measurement

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Qualitative data only
categorized using names, labels, or qualitites
no mathematical computations can be made

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Ordinal level of measurement

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Quantitative/Qualitative data
data can be arranged in order
differences between data entries is not meaningful

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Ratio level of measurement

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zero entry is an inherent zero
a ratio of two data values can be formed
one data value can be meangingfully expressed as a multiple of another

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statistics

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the science of collecting, organizing, analyzing, and interpreting data

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data

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consists of information coming from observations, counts, measurements, or responses

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population

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the collection of all outcomes, responses, measurements, or counts that are of interest

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Sample

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a subset, or part, of a population

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Parameter

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number that describes a population characteristics

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statistic

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number that describes a sample characteristic

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Descriptive statistics

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The bunch of statistics that involves the organization, summarization, and display of data

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Inferential Statistics

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the branch of statistics that involves using a sample to draw conclusions about a population. A basic tool in the study of interferential statistics is probability.