Topic 8.2: Descriptive Stats

Topic 8.2: Descriptive Stats

1. To establish whether there is a relationship

   • 1.The level of measurement of the variables
     • (i.e. the scales used to measure variables in the sample)
   • 2.Goal of the study is either descriptive or inferential
     • examine relationships between study variables and make inferences about that relationship in the population from which the sample was drawn).

2. Inferential

   • hypothesis test including p-value or confidence interval (CI) is
     • estimate the likelihood that the observed relationship in the sample can be generalised to the population from which the sample was drawn.
     • examined if there is a relationship between study variables

3. Descriptive

   • use graphs or tables,
     • depending on the level of measurement of the variables,
     • many different summary statistics designed to quantify the sample data
       • usually dealing with one variable at a time, rather than relationships between variables

4. What they are

   • indispensable in quantitative research.
     • basic methods used to summarise and present sample data.
       • Analysis of possible independent/dependent variable relationships (in inferential analysis) is more meaningful
         • whem firm understanding of how the measurements of independent variables (IV) and dependent variables (DV) are distributed

5. Common practice

   • first stages after data collection
     • describe the values encountered in the data.

6. allow you to check for unusual, incorrect, unexpected values that caution,

   • encourage certain analyses.
     • statistics are used to describe the shape, central tendency and variability in a set of data.

7. Common descriptive stats

   • Frequency distributions;
   • Measures of Central Tendency;
   • Measures of Dispersion;
   • Probability distributions (also called sampling distribution or distribution patterns)