A Statistics

Refresher
Diane Angelika Nicole D. Novicio, RPm, RPSy
Professor, Introduction to Psychology
Antiquity to the
19th Century
Activity 1
•For most people, test scores are an
important fact of life. But what
makes those numbers so
meaningful?
•In general terms, what information,
ideally, should be conveyed by a
test score?
Measurement
Measurement
•The act of assigning numbers or
symbols to characteristics of things
(people, events, whatever)
according to rules
•Ex: assign the number 12 to all
lengths that are exactly the same
length as a 12-inch ruler
Scale
•A set of numbers whose properties
model empirical properties of the
objects to which the numbers are
assigned.
•Continuous scale
•Discrete scale
Activity 2
•The scale with which we are all
perhaps most familiar is the
common bathroom scale.
How are a psychological test
and a bathroom scale alike?
How are they different?
Error
•The collective influence of all
of the factors on a test score
or measurement beyond those
specifically measured by the
test or measurement
Activity 3
• Assume the role of a test creator. Now write some
instructions to users of your test that are designed to
reduce to the absolute minimum any error
associated with test scores. Be sure to include
instructions regarding the preparation of the site
where the test will be administered.
4 Levels or Scales of
Measurement
Nominal Scales
•Nominal scales are the simplest form
of measurement. These scales
involve classification or
categorization based on one or
more distinguishing characteristics,
where all things measured must be
placed into mutually exclusive and
exhaustive categories.
Nominal Scales
Individual test items may also employ nominal
scaling, including yes/no responses. For example,
consider the following test items:
Instructions: Answer either yes or no.
Are you actively contemplating suicide? __________
Are you currently under professional care for a
psychiatric disorder? _______
Have you ever been convicted of a felony? _______
Ordinal Scales
•Like nominal scales, ordinal scales
permit classification.
•Assessment instruments applied to
the individual subject may also use
an ordinal form of measurement.
•The Rokeach Value Survey uses
such an approach.
Ordinal Scales
•Ordinal scales imply nothing
about how much greater one
ranking is than another.
•Ordinal scales have no
absolute zero point.
Interval Scales
•In addition to the features of
nominal and ordinal scales,
interval scales contain equal
intervals between numbers.
•But like ordinal scales, interval
scales contain no absolute zero
point.
Ratio Scales
•In addition to all the properties of
nominal, ordinal, and interval
measurement, a ratio scale has a true
zero point.
•In psychology, ratio-level
measurement is employed in some
types of tests and test items, perhaps
most notably those involving
assessment of neurological
functioning.
Describing Data
Distribution
•A set of test scores
arrayed for
recording or study
Raw Scores
•A straightforward,
unmodified
accounting of
performance that is
usually numerical
Frequency Distribution
• The data from the test could be organized into a distribution of
the raw scores. One way the scores could be distributed is by
the frequency with which they occur. In a frequency distribution,
all scores are listed alongside the number of times each score
occurred.
• The scores might be listed in tabular or graphic form.
• Often, a frequency distribution is referred to as a simple
frequency distribution to indicate that individual scores have
been used and the data have not been grouped.
• Another kind of frequency distribution used to summarize data is
a grouped frequency distribution.
• In a grouped frequency distribution, test-score intervals, also
called class intervals, replace the actual test scores.
 Abnormal Psychology Final Exam Results
Pauline 43
Joy 45
Aira 37
Llou 36
Andrei 40
Jerome 29
Lenard 32
Anthony 37
Jaynalyn 44
Marie 46
Melanie 48
Anne 35
Shaina 35
Diane 37
Christine 38
Justine 39
Grouped Frequency Distribution
Abnormal Psychology Final Exam Results
Class Interval f (frequency)
26-30 1
31-35 3
36-40 7
41-45 3
46-50 2
Graph
• A graph is a diagram or chart composed of
lines, points, bars, or other symbols that
describe and illustrate data. With a good
graph, the place of a single score in relation
to a distribution of test scores can be
understood easily.
• histogram, bar graph, frequency polygon.
Histogram •A histogram is a
grawith vertical
lines drawn at the
true limits of each
test score (or class
interval), forming
a series of
contiguous
rectangles.
 •In a bar
Bar Graph graph, the
rectangular
bars typically
are not
contiguous.
 • Data illustrated in a
frequency polygon are
Frequency Polygon expressed by a
continuous line
connecting the points
where test scores or class
intervals (as indicated on
the X-axis) meet
frequencies (as indicated
on the Y-axis).
Measures of Central Tendency
• A measure of central tendency is a statistic that indicates
the average or midmost score between the extreme scores
in a distribution.
• Note that, in the formulas to follow, the standard statistical
shorthand called “summation notation” (summation
meaning “the sum of”) is used.
• The Greek uppercase letter sigma, Σ, is the symbol used to
signify “sum”; if X represents a test score, then the
expression Σ X means “add all the test scores.
Mean
• The arithmetic mean, denoted by the symbol
X (and pronounced “X bar”), is equal to the
sum of the observations (or test scores, in this
case) divided by the number of observations.
• Symbolically written, the formula for the
arithmetic mean is X = Σ(X/n), where n equals
the number of observations or test scores.
Median
•The median, defined as the
middle score in a
distribution, is another
commonly used measure
of central tendency.
Mode
•The most frequently
occurring score in a
distribution of scores is
the mode
Measures of Variability
• Variability is an indication of how scores in a distribution are scattered or dispersed.
• Statistics that describe the amount of variation in a distribution are referred to as
measures of variability. Some measures of variability include the range, the
interquartile range, the semi-interquartile range, the average deviation, the
standard deviation, and the variance
Range
•The range of a
distribution is equal to
the difference between
the highest and the
lowest scores.
 Interquartile & Semi-Interquartile Ranges
• A distribution of test scores (or
any other data, for that matter)
can be divided into four parts
such that 25% of the test scores
occur in each quarter.
• As illustrated in Figure 3–5, the
dividing points between the four
quarters in the distribution are the
quartiles.
 Interquartile & Semi-
Interquartile Ranges
• It should come as no surprise to
you that Q2 and the median are
exactly the same. And just as the
median is the midpoint in a
distribution of scores, so are
quartiles Q1 and Q3 the quarter-
points in a distribution of scores.
Formulas may be employed to
determine the exact value of
these points.
 Interquartile & Semi-
Interquartile Ranges
• The interquartile range is a
measure of variability equal
to the difference between
Q3 and Q1. Like the
median, it is an ordinal
statistic.
• A related measure of
variability is the semi-
interquartile range, which is
equal to the interquartile
range divided by 2.
 Interquartile & Semi-
Interquartile Ranges
• Knowledge of the relative
distances of Q1 and Q3 from Q2
(the median) provides the
seasoned test interpreter with
immediate information as to the
shape of the distribution of
scores.
• In a perfectly symmetrical
distribution, Q1 and Q3 will be
exactly the same distance from
the median.
Average Deviation
•Another tool that could be
used to describe the amount
of variability in a distribution is
the average deviation, or AD
for short.
Standard Deviation
•We may define the standard
deviation as a measure of variability
equal to the square root of the
average squared deviations about
the mean.
Variance
• The variance is equal to the arithmetic mean of the squares of the
differences between the scores in a distribution and their mean.
• Simply stated, the variance is calculated by squaring and summing
all the deviation scores and then dividing by the total number of
scores. The variance can also be calculated in other ways.
• For example: From raw scores, first calculate the summation of the
raw scores squared, divide by the number of scores, and then
subtract the mean squared.
Skewness
• Distributions can be characterized by their skewness, or the nature
and extent to which symmetry is absent. Skewness is an indication of
how the measurements in a distribution are distributed.
• Various formulas exist for measuring skewness. One way of gauging
the skewness of a distribution is through examination of the relative
distances of quartiles from the median.
• In a positively skewed distribution, Q3 − Q2 will be greater than the
distance of Q2 − Q1.
• In a negatively skewed distribution, Q3 − Q2 will be less than the
distance of Q2 − Q1.
• In a distribution that is symmetrical, the distances from Q1 and Q3 to
the median are the same.
Kurtosis
• The term testing professionals use to refer to the
steepness of a distribution in its center is kurtosis.
• Many methods exist for measuring kurtosis.
According to the original definition, the normal bell-
shaped curve would have a kurtosis value of 3.
• In other methods of computing kurtosis, a normal
distribution would have kurtosis of 0, with positive
values indicating higher kurtosis and negative
values indicating lower kurtosis.
Normal Curve
• Development of the concept of a normal curve began in the middle of the
eighteenth century with the work of Abraham DeMoivre and, later, the Marquis de
Laplace. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Karl Friedrich Gauss made
some substantial contributions.
• Through the early nineteenth century, scientists referred to it as the “Laplace-
Gaussian curve.”
• Karl Pearson is credited with being the first to refer to the curve as the normal curve,
perhaps in an effort to be diplomatic to all of the people who helped develop it.
• Theoretically, the normal curve is a bell-shaped, smooth, mathematically defined
curve that is highest at its center. From the center it tapers on both sides
approaching the X-axis asymptotically (meaning that it approaches, but never
touches, the axis).
• In theory, the distribution of the normal curve ranges from negative infinity to
positive infinity.
Area Under the Normal Curve
Standard Scores
•Simply stated, a standard score is
a raw score that has been
converted from one scale to
another scale, where the latter
scale has some arbitrarily set
mean and standard deviation.
Z Score
• A z score results from the conversion of a raw
score into a number indicating how many
standard deviation units the raw score is
below or above the mean of the distribution.
• We’ll convert a raw score of 65 to a z score by
using the formula
Z Score
• In essence, a z score is equal to the difference between a particular
raw score and the mean divided by the standard deviation. In the
preceding example, a raw score of 65 was found to be equal to a z
score of +1.
• In addition to providing a convenient context for comparing scores
on the same test, standard scores provide a convenient context for
comparing scores on different tests.
• As an example, consider that Crystal’s raw score on the hypothetical
Main Street Reading Test was 24 and that her raw score on the
(equally hypothetical) Main Street Arithmetic Test was 42.
Z Score
•Converting Crystal’s raw scores to
z scores based on the
performance of other students in
her class, suppose we find that her
z score on the reading test was
1.32 and that her z score on the
arithmetic test was −0.75.
T Score
• If the scale used in the computation of z scores is called a zero plus or minus one
scale, then the scale used in the computation of T scores can be called a fifty plus
or minus ten scale; that is, a scale with a mean set at 50 and a standard deviation
set at 10.
• Devised by W. A. McCall (1922, 1939) and named a T score in honor of his professor
E. L. Thorndike, this standard score system is composed of a scale that ranges from
5 standard deviations below the mean to 5 standard deviations above the mean.
• Thus, for example, a raw score that fell exactly at 5 standard deviations below the
mean would be equal to a T score of 0, a raw score that fell at the mean would be
equal to a T of 50, and a raw score 5 standard deviations above the mean would
be equal to a T of 100.
Correlation & Inference
• Central to psychological testing and assessment are
inferences (deduced conclusions) about how some
things (such as traits, abilities, or interests) are
related to other things (such as behavior).
• A coefficient of correlation (or correlation
coefficient) is a number that provides us with an
index of the strength of the relationship between
two things.
The Concept of Correlation
• Simply stated, correlation is an expression of the degree and direction
of correspondence between two things. A coefficient of correlation
(r) expresses a linear relationship between two (and only two)
variables, usually continuous in nature.
• It reflects the degree of concomitant variation between variable X
and variable Y.
• The meaning of a correlation coefficient is interpreted by its sign and
magnitude.
• And here is a rather intriguing fact about the magnitude of a
correlation coefficient: It is judged by its absolute value.
Activity 4
•Can you name two variables that
are perfectly correlated? How
about two psychological variables
that are perfectly correlated?
The Concept of Correlation
•Positive correlation
•Negative correlation
The Concept of Correlation
•If a correlation is zero, then
absolutely no relationship exists
between the two variables.
Pearson R
• Many techniques have been devised to measure correlation. The most widely used
of all is thePearson r, also known as the Pearson correlation coefficient and the
Pearson product-momentPearson r, also known as the Pearson correlation
coefficient and the Pearson product-moment coefficient of correlation.
• Devised by Karl Pearson, r can be the statistical tool of choice when the
relationship between the variables is linear and when the two variables being
correlated are continuous (or, they can theoretically take any value).
Spearman Rho
• The Pearson r enjoys such widespread use and
acceptance as an index of correlation that if for some
reason it is not used to compute a correlation coefficient,
mention is made of the statistic that was used.
• There are many alternative ways to derive a coefficient of
correlation.
• One commonly used alternative statistic is variously called
a rank-order correlation coefficient, a rank-difference
correlation coefficient, or simply Spearman’s rho.
Graphic Representations of Correlation
• One type of graphic representation of
correlation is referred to by many names,
including a bivariate distribution, a scatter
diagram, a scattergram, or—our favorite—a
scatterplot.
• A scatterplot is a simple graphing of the
coordinate points for values of the X-variable
(placed along the graph’s horizontal axis) and
the Y-variable (placed along the graph’s
vertical axis).
Graphic Representations of Correlation
• An outlier is an
extremely atypical
point located at a
relatively long
distance—an outlying
distance—from the
rest of the coordinate
points in a scatterplot