Understanding Statistical Methods: Analyzing Inferential Statistics, NHST, F-Ratios, and Experimental Designs

Preview (7 of 20 Pages)

100%

Purchase to unlock

Understanding Statistical Methods: Analyzing Inferential Statistics, NHST, F-Ratios, and Experimental Designs - Page 1 preview image

Loading page ...

Understanding Statistical Methods: Analyzing Inferential Statistics, NHST, F-Ratios, and Experimental DesignsWeek 2 SolutionInferential Statistics2. Whatare degrees of freedom? How are they calculated?Answer: The degree of freedoms is equal to the number of independent observation or the number ofsubjects in the data, minus the parameters estimated. A parameter to be estimated is related to thevalue of an independent variableand included in a statistical equation. A researcher may estimateparameters using different amounts or pieces of information and the number of independent pieces ofinformation he or she used to estimate statistic or a parameter is called the degree of freedom.Calculation:Step 1Determine what type of statistical test I need to run. Both t-tests and chi-squared tests usedegrees of freedom and have distinct degrees of freedom tables. T-tests are used when thepopulation or sample has distinct variables. Chi-squared tests are usedwhen the population orsample has continuous variables. Both tests assume normal population or sample distribution.Step 2Identify how many independent variables I have in my population or sample. If I have a samplepopulation of N random valuesthen the equation has N degrees of freedom. If my data setrequired me to subtract the mean from each data point--as in a chi-squared test--then I will haveN-1 degrees of freedom.Step 3Look up the critical values for my equation using a critical value table. Knowing the degrees offreedom for a population or sample does not give me much insight in of itself. Rather, the correctdegrees of freedom and my chosen alpha together give me a critical value. This value allows meto determine the statistical significance of my results.3. Whatdo inferential statistics allow you to infer?Answer:Inferential statistics is concerned with making predictions or inferences about apopulation from observations and analyses of a sample. That is, we can take the results of ananalysis using a sample and can generalize it to the larger population that the sample represents.

Preview Mode

This document has 20 pages. Sign in to access the full document!

Report

Study Now!

Document Details

Related Documents

The Statistics of Inheritance

Estimation and Hypothesis Testing

Experimental Designs Week 4 Solution

Inferential Statistics Week 2 Solution

Normal Distribution - Amount of Sleep

Lab Activity 5 Sampling Distributions

Correlation and Confidence Intervals

Hypothesis Testing � Comparing Two Groups

Probability and Statistics Assignment

Two-Sample Hypothesis Tests

Company

Explore

Study Tools