Summary
Contents
Subject index
Understanding and Using Statistics in Psychology takes the fear out of psychological statistics to help students understand why statistics are carried out, how to choose the best test, how to carry out the tests, and then perform the analysis in SPSS. Emphasizing the place of statistical analysis in the process of conducting research, from design to report writing, this accessible and straightforward guide takes a non-technical approach, encouraging the reader to understand why a particular test is being used and what the results mean in the context of a psychological study. The focus is on meaning and understanding rather than numerical calculation.
Making Inferences: Confidence Limits and Statistical Significance
Making Inferences: Confidence Limits and Statistical Significance
What's in This Chapter?
- Calculating the standard error
- Probability
- Hypotheses
- t distribution
- Degrees of freedom
- Confidence intervals
- Using SPSS
Key Terms
alpha
alternative hypothesis
confidence interval
confidence limits
degrees of freedom
descriptive statistics
hypotheses
inference
normal distribution
null hypothesis
one-tailed (or directional) hypothesis
population
probability
standard error
statistically significant
t distribution
two-tailed (or non-directional) hypothesis
type I error
type II error
z-score
Introduction
This chapter is about the way we make inferences and statements of significance. It is also about how much tolerance there is in our results. By ‘tolerance’ we mean the how certain we are about our results. For example, when students take A levels they are given a grade from A to U, but there is bound to be some variation in the way the examinations are marked. It is generally agreed, though rarely reported, that the tolerance ...
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