Methods Toward a Science of Behavior and Experience 10th Edition by William J. Ray –

Test Bank For Methods Toward a Science of Behavior and Experience 10th Edition by William J. Ray

Chapter 5 – Description of Behavior Through Numerical Representation

Chapter Outline

Measurement

Scales of Measurement

Nominal Measurement

Ordinal Measurement

Interval Measurement

Ratio Measurement

Identifying Scales of Measurement

Measurement and Statistics

Pictorial Description of Frequency Information

Descriptive Statistics

Measures of Central Tendency

Measures of Variability

Pictorial Presentations of Numerical Data

Transforming Data

Standard Scores

Measure of Association

Chapter Overview

Behavior is described through measurement that exists at four basic levels or scales: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Statistics are used to help us make sense of data. A frequency distribution provides a pictorial representation of frequency information from an experiment. Distributions of scores may take several shapes, such as a bimodal distribution or skewed distribution. Mean, median, and mode are commonly used measures of central tendency. The choice of which one to use depends on the distribution. Variability can be measured by range and standard deviation. Numerical data can be represented in line and bar graphs.

Data can be transformed from one scale to another and to meet statistical assumptions. Standard scores such as z scores allow comparison of scores to other scores. Association between variables can be depicted in a scatter diagram and with correlation coefficients, which may be positive or negative. Correlation does not show causal relationships between variables, but does have value in prediction.

Chapter Objectives

1. Measurement theory requires us to ask what two questions when doing research?

2. Compare and contrast the different scales of measurement.

3. Cite two ways to display data.

4. What three measures of central tendency are discussed in the text and what are their characteristics?

5. Discuss the concept of variability. Give examples of three different measures of variability and describe their functions.

6. Why is it common to transform data? Relate transformation of data to the concept of z-scores.

7. What is correlation? How does it aid us in understanding the relationship between variables?

8. How would you define a positive correlation? How would you define a negative correlation?

9. What can you say about the effect of one variable on the other in correlational studies?

10. What information is derived from squaring the correlation coefficient? How does this relate to variability accounted for?