3.5: Review

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Page ID: 37280

Melissa Ha and Rachel Schleiger
Yuba College & Butte College via ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative

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Summary

After completing this chapter you should be able to...

Know how mathematics and statistics fits into the scientific method
Define the basic mathematical terms
Know what data is what what types of data there are
Understand the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics
Have a general idea of what types of graphs there are to help visualize data
Understand the difference between scientific and statistical hypotheses
Know the process for how conclusions are made

Statistics are based on samples of data collected to be representative of a population of interest due to the impossibility of collecting a complete dataset. There are two types of statistics, descriptive (summary calculations) and inferential (hypothesis testing). Data can come from anywhere! There are two main types of data, qualitative (categorical) and quantitative (numerical).

For descriptive statistics, measures of center and spread are commonly calculated in addition to some sort of visualization of the data. The type of calculations and visualizations used depend on the study parameters and objectives.

For inferential statistics, hypotheses are clearly defined and analyses are run. There are two main types of hypotheses, scientific and statistical. The scientific proposes a potential explanation about a phenomenon while a statistical is used to predictions about measured outcomes and has two forms, null and alternative. Independent and dependent variables are used to structure the ideas outlined in the hypotheses. Once a study is performed to test the hypotheses then conclusions can be drawn based on evidence identified for each hypothesis.

Attribution

Rachel Schleiger (CC-BY-NC)