...Descriptive and Inferential Statistics PSY/315 Statistical Reasoning in Psychology September 21, 2013 Dr. Nancy Walker Descriptive and Inferential Statistics Statistics is “a branch of mathematics that focuses on the organization, analysis, and interpretation of a group of numbers” (Aron, Aron, & Coups, 2009, p. 2). However, just the mention of statistics makes people nervous, although when properly understood, many of the questions statistics tries to answer are very provocative and challenging. Statistics are a collection of information and, data that helps test the theory something is happening or will happen again. The functions of statistics are there to help researchers have a better understanding of a phenomenon. Statistics can be used when looking for the truth, if you have ever had a hunch about something, was it confirmed? Yes the hunch was confirmed. Statistics help researchers with data by using math and working with a group of numbers. Statistics studies variables, characteristics that have different values, values, possible number that a score can have, and score one person value of a variable (Aron, Aron, & Coups, 2009). Descriptive and inferential statistics are to evaluate results and enable one to make a conclusion. Descriptive statistics are a way to describe data (Laird Statistics, 2013), as well as to “summarize and describe a group of numbers from a research study,” whereas, inferential statistics are used to “draw conclusions and...
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...Descriptive and Inferential Statistics Paper Terrance Douglas, Katie Faiman, Marika Schlindwein, Christyl Schoultz, & Samantha Sisk PSY/315 February 3, 2013 Dr. Deborah Suzzane Descriptive and Inferential Statistics Paper Have you ever noticed that we just keep moving forward? There are countless, unseen individuals who make this happen each day, but how do they operate? How do they accomplish all of this? We live in a complex world. Behind the scenes, researchers are steadily developing new theories and testing their outcome. For them, statistics serves a very different purpose. In the next few paragraphs, the role of statistics is explained as their role in the psychological community. Statistics itself is then further subdivided into two different methodologies; descriptive and the inferential (Aaron & Aaron & Coups, 2009). Each method utilizes data for a different purpose, and in each method, data may be gathered differently. Lastly, an example of each of the two types of statistics which helps the reader to distinguish clearly between the descriptive and inferential types of statistics which researchers use to conduct their work. It will further be shown how the two methods of statistics relate to each other in research. It is by understanding the two different roles of each of these types of statistics that researchers are able to gather meaningful data, which is testable and provable and keeps us on a forward moving trajectory...
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...Descriptive and Inferential Statistics ________________________________________ Statistics can be broken into two basic types. The first is known as descriptive statistics. This is a set of methods to describe data that we have collected. Ex. Of 350 randomly selected people in the town of Luserna, Italy, 280 people had the last name Nicolussi. An example of descriptive statistics is the following statement : "80% of these people have the last name Nicolussi." Ex. On the last 3 Sundays, Henry D. Carsalesman sold 2, 1, and 0 new cars respectively. An example of descriptive statistics is the following statement : "Henry averaged 1 new car sold for the last 3 Sundays." These are both descriptive statements because they can actually be verified from the information provided. The second type of statistics in inferential statistics. This is a set of methods used to make a generalization, estimate, prediction or decision. Ex. Of 350 randomly selected people in the town of Luserna, Italy, 280 people had the last name Nicolussi. An example of inferential statistics is the following statement : "80% of all people living in Italy have the last name Nicolussi." We have no information about all people living in Italy, just about the 350 living in Luserna. We have taken that information and generalized it to talk about all people living in Italy. The easiest way to tell that this statement is not descriptive is by trying to verify it based upon the information provided. Ex....
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...Rodney Goudy RES/351 July 6, 2015 Tracy Sipma Descriptive statistics Descriptive statistics suggests a straightforward quantitative outline of a data-set which has been gathered. It helps us comprehend the experimentation or data-set in-detail and tells people concerning the mandatory details that help show the data perceptively. Descriptive statistics, we just convey exactly what the data reveals and tell us. Most of the statistical averages and numbers we estimate are essentially illustrative averages. For instance the Dow Jones Industrial tells us about the typical performance of select firms. The grade-point avg. tells us about the typical performance of a pupil in school. The GDP growth rate tells us about the typical performance of a state. Therefore illustrative statistics attempts to catch a sizable group of observations and offers us some concept concerning the data-set. Descriptive statistics aims to describe data set information with summary graphs and tables (Linda Hollis, n.d.). Inferential Statistics Inferential statistics includes drawing the correct conclusions from your statistical evaluation that's been performed using descriptive data. Ultimately, it really is the inferences that make studies significant and this element is dealt with-in inferential data. Most forecasts of the potential and generalizations of a population by analyzing a smaller sample come under the scope of inferential statistics. Many social sciences experiments offer with analyzing...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 2 Descriptive statistics Descriptive statistics suggests a straightforward quantitative outline of a data-set which has been gathered. It helps us comprehend the experimentation or data-set in-detail and tells people concerning the mandatory details that help show the data perceptively. Descriptive statistics, we just convey exactly what the data reveals and tell us. Most of the statistical averages and numbers we estimate are essentially illustrative averages. For instance the Dow Jones Industrial tells us about the typical performance of select firms. The grade-point avg. tells us about the typical performance of a pupil in school. The GDP growth rate tells us about the typical performance of a state. Therefore illustrative statistics attempts to catch a sizable group of observations and offers us some concept concerning the data-set. Descriptive statistics aims to describe data set information with summary graphs and tables (Linda Hollis, n.d.). Inferential Statistics Inferential statistics includes drawing the correct conclusions from your statistical evaluation that's been performed using descriptive data. Ultimately, it really is the inferences that make studies significant and this element is dealt with-in inferential data. Most forecasts of the potential and generalizations of a population by analyzing a smaller sample come under the scope of inferential statistics. Many social sciences experiments offer with analyzing...
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...the most basic statistical analysis is descriptive analysis. Descriptive statistics can summarize responses from large numbers of respondents in a few simple statistics. When a sample is obtained, the sample descriptive statistics are used to make inferences about characteristics of the entire population of interests. Descriptive analysis is the transformation of data in a way that describes the basic characteristics such as tendency, distribution, and variables. A examples of this would be if a company wanted to find out what type of bonus employees prefer. Descriptive statistics are used to explain the basic properties of these variables. One descriptive statistics that is used to explain the basic properties of variables is Mean, Median, and Modes. These terms all would be descriptive statistics for the above example by describing the central tendency in different ways. The mean would reflect the average answer that is given. The Median would provide the answer that is the central or middle range answer. The mode would be the answer that was given the most often. A second descriptive statistic that is used to explain the basic properties of variables is Tabulation. This refers to the orderly arrangement of data in a table or other summary format. When the tabulation process is done by hand, the term tallying is used. Simple tabulation tells how frequently each response or bit of information occurs. A third descriptive statistic used to explain the basic properties of...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 2 Justin Wilson RES 351 Business Research 31 Mar 2015 Biman Ghosh Descriptive statistics is the term given to the analysis of data that helps describe, show or summarize data in a meaningful way such that, for example, patterns might emerge from the data. Descriptive statistics do not, however, allow us to make conclusions beyond the data we have analysed or reach conclusions regarding any hypotheses we might have made. They are simply a way to describe our data. Descriptive statistics are very important because if we simply presented our raw data it would be hard to visulize what the data was showing, especially if there was a lot of it. Descriptive statistics therefore enables us to present the data in a more meaningful way, which allows simpler interpretation of the data. For example, if we had the results of 100 pieces of students' coursework, we may be interested in the overall performance of those students. We would also be interested in the distribution or spread of the marks. Descriptive statistics allow us to do this. How to properly describe data through statistics and graphs is an important topic and discussed in other Laerd Statistics guides. Typically, there are two general types of statistic that are used to describe data: * Measures of central tendency: these are ways of describing the central position of a frequency distribution for a group of data. In this case, the frequency distribution...
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...Descriptive and Inferential Statistics Statistics are all-around and used in everyday life. Statistics are used to describe how effective a medication is for a certain disorder to what the most popular color is in the United States. According to Aron, Aron, and Coups, 2009, “statistics is a method of pursuing truth. As a minimum, statistics can tell you the likelihood that your hunch is true in this time and place and with these sorts of people” (p. 2). Psychologist use two branches of statistics to summarize his or her results and those are descriptive and inferential statistics. This paper will discuss the function of statistics, what descriptive and inferential statistics are, and the relationship between descriptive and inferential statistics. Statistics are used in almost every branch of study and is found behind the scenes in many of our normal daily activities. From economic to scientific studies, statistics are utilized in one way or another. Statistics are an essential part of understanding information and expanding knowledge base and is encompasses almost all aspects of enquiry ("7 Most Essential Functions Of Statistics", 2012). Statistics have many functions that we utilize;statisticsprovides for a better understanding of phenomenon of nature and helps in proper and statistical planning in all forms of study. Using statistics helps in collecting useful quantitative data and also aids in presenting difficult or confusing data in an understandable way. Statistics facilitate...
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...Descriptive and Inferential Statistics Paper Casie Thibeault PSY/315 July 27, 2013 Michelle A. Williams, PhD Descriptive and Inferential Statistics Paper The very word “statistics” seems to produce anxiety in most students - anxiety produced from its connection to mathematics. The first step in controlling anxiety is to understand the connection and just how useful statistics can be for comprehending information that has been gathered. A statistic is a representation of information, and its function is to help researchers either to organize, summarize, or understand data. The ability to describe data is essential when gathering statistics. Statistics can be broken down into two basic types: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics are a summary of information that makes the data presented more easily understood. The descriptive method is limited to only the population in which the researcher is dealing with, and only describes that particular group (Purdue OWL, 1995-2013). Inferential statistics offers a more detailed conclusion regarding the hypothesis. A benefit of the inferential method is that it can be used to take a broader view of populations, making it possible to draw conclusions about sizeable groups of people (Purdue OWL, 1995-2013). In a nutshell, the simple way to distinguish between the two would be that descriptive statistics summarize and inferential statistics draw conclusions. Both descriptive and inferential...
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...help@mindblows.us BSHS 435 WEEK 4 STATISTICAL ANALYSES • Student selected a peer reviewed article from the library related to human services and statistical analysis. • Student discussed statistical analyses, including the following information: • Summarize in 100 to 150 words what the research study discussed in the article is about. (Provide a complete citation for the article using proper APA format.) • Discuss in 250 to 400 words the statistical analyses within the article. o Does the article incorporate graphs or tables that facilitate understanding of the data? o Are the descriptive statistical analyses appropriate for the subject? What descriptive statistics were used in the study? o Identify the inferential statistics used and comment if the analyses supported the research problem/hypothesis. (For example, do they support the conclusions reached by the author or authors? Are the statistics misleading or biased?). • The paper is 700 to 1,050 words in length. BSHS 435 WEEK 4 STATISTICAL ANALYSES To purchase this visit here: http://mindsblow.us/question_des/BSHS435WEEK4STATISTICALANALYSES/2786 Contact us at: help@mindblows.us BSHS 435 WEEK 4 STATISTICAL ANALYSES • Student selected a peer reviewed article from the library related to human services and statistical analysis. • Student discussed statistical analyses, including the following information: • Summarize in 100 to 150 words what the research study discussed in the article is about. (Provide a complete...
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...BSHS 382 Week 5 Learning Team Statistics and Hypothesis Testing Presentation To Buy This material Click below link http://www.uoptutors.com/BSHS-382/BSHS-382-Week-5-Learning-Team-Statistics-and-Hypothesis-Testing-Presentation Prepare a 10- to 15-slide Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation on statistics and hypothesis testing. This is a Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation with speaker notes. Anorexia, as described on p. 383 of Statistics Enchiladas, as described on pp. 113 and 114 of Statistics FL Student Survey, as described on pp. 22 and 23 of Statistics Georgia Student Survey, as described on pp. 22, 23, and 151 of Statistics Olympic High Jump, as described on pp. 124, 125, and 128 of Statistics Introduction o Introduce the Learning Team members and the data set. o Briefly explain how the data was gathered and identify the study population. Descriptive Statistics o Define descriptive statistics and list the various descriptive measures. o Explain how descriptive statistical analysis increases understanding of the data. o Include an original graph created with StatCrunch that uses at least one descriptive statistical measure to illustrate the data set. Inferential Statistics o Define statistical inference and include and explain at least one original inferential statistical calculation. o Use StatCrunch to check the calculation and show the steps in your presentation. o Explain how inferential statistical analysis increases...
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... an analyzer will incorporate both descriptive and inferential statistics to evaluate his or her results and create a credible conclusion. Descriptive statistics provides information focused on an immediate group of data. After defining what needs to be analyzed, the descriptive statistics will help the analyzer abridge the data to a more meaningful and comprehendible form, which will then provide patterns in his or her research that, will provide a foundation to his or her thesis. For example, a person could use descriptive statistics to evaluate the answers on an exam taken by 400 American students, and use descriptive statistics to determine the overall performance of the 400 students at that school. By using descriptive statistics, the analyzer can use his or her findings, to provide useful information regarding which subjects students need to improve most in, and which minority group or grade level are grasping the educational tools provided at the school more effectively, then those not grasping the provided educational tools and still need more room for improvement. While descriptive statistics helps an analyzer assess an immediate group of data from a single population, inferential statistics allow an analyzer to collect data using bits and pieces of samples which are portions of a collection of data focusing on the group or population of interest in which the analyzer research is concentrated on at the time. Inferential statistics will allow the analyzer to create a...
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...Mat 205-01 Statistics: Course summary December 3, 2014 Emmanuel Johnson Descriptive statistics is the term given to the analysis of data that helps describe, show or summarize data in a meaningful way such that, for example, patterns might emerge from the data. Descriptive statistics do not, however, allow us to make conclusions beyond the data we have analysed or reach conclusions regarding any hypotheses we might have made. They are simply a way to describe our data. Descriptive statistics are very important because if we simply presented our raw data it would be hard to visulize what the data was showing, especially if there was a lot of it. Descriptive statistics therefore enables us to present the data in a more meaningful way, which allows simpler interpretation of the data. For example, if we had the results of 100 pieces of students' coursework, we may be interested in the overall performance of those students. We would also be interested in the distribution or spread of the marks. Descriptive statistics allow us to do this. How to properly describe data through statistics and graphs is an important topic and discussed in other Laerd Statistics guides. In simple linear regression, we predict scores on one variable from the scores on a second variable. The variable we are predicting is called the criterion variableand is referred to as Y. The variable we are basing our predictions on is called thepredictor variable and is referred to as X. When there...
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... Introduction to Statistics LEARNING OBJECTIVES The primary objective of chapter 1 is to introduce you to the world of statistics, enabling you to: 1. Define statistics. 2. Be aware of a wide range of applications of statistics in business. 3. Differentiate between descriptive and inferential statistics. 4. Classify numbers by level of data and understand why doing so is important. CHAPTER OUTLINE 1.1 Statistics in Business Best Way to Market Stress on the Job Financial Decisions How is the Economy Doing? The Impact of Technology at Work 1.2 Basic Statistical Concepts 1.3 Data Measurement Nominal Level Ordinal Level Interval Level Ratio Level Comparison of the Four Levels of Data Statistical Analysis Using the Computer: Excel and MINITAB KEY TERMS census ordinal level data descriptive statistics parameter inferential statistics parametric statistics interval level data population metric data ratio level data nominal level data sample nonmetric data statistic nonparametric statistics statistics STUDY QUESTIONS 1. A science dealing with the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of numerical data is called _______________. 2. One way to subdivide the field of statistics is into the two branches...
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...Statistics in Business Kathleen S. Power-Davenport QNT/351 May 25, 2015 Lance Milner Statistics in Business Introduction Statistics is "the science of collecting, organizing presenting, analyzing, and interpreting data to assist in making more efficient decisions" (Lind, Marchal & Wathen, 2011). This paper will summarize the types, levels, and the role of statistics in business decision making, followed by examples of statistics in action. Types, Levels, and the Role in Business Decision Making The two categories of statistics are descriptive and inferential. Descriptive statistics is the analysis of data that describes, or summarizes the data in a meaningful way (Laerd Statistics, 2013). Business leaders can organize large amounts of data into a comprehensive format utilizing descriptive statistics. But descriptive statistics do not make conclusions about the data. An inferential statistic is calculated by taking a sample of the data from the population, and drawing a conclusion about the whole based on the small amount (Lind, Marchal & Wathen). Decision makers move forward based on a conclusion drawn from statistical inference. The data gathered for statistics is classified into four levels of measurement: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio (Lind, Marchal & Wathen). Data at the lowest level is nominal and has a qualitative variable divided into categories or outcomes. Ordinal data is qualitative and represented by sets of labels or names...
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