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Descriptive Statistics in Non-Experimental Research
In non-experimental research, descriptive statistics often involve computing simple percentages to describe the proportion of individuals engaging in a certain behavior or holding a specific belief. However, researchers more commonly use this method to compute a correlation coefficient to assess the statistical relationship between two naturally occurring variables.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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Correlation Coefficient
Sample Statistic
Descriptive Statistics in Experimental Research
Descriptive Statistics in Non-Experimental Research
Inferential Statistics
Understanding Descriptive Statistics
Scatterplot
Measures of Central Tendency
Measures of Dispersion
Forms of Statistical Relationship
Cohen's
Mean
Standard Deviation
Bar Graph
Line Graph
What is the primary purpose of using descriptive statistics in psychological research?
Match each category of descriptive statistics with the specific goal it accomplishes when a researcher is summarizing their data.
A researcher finds that a distribution of scores on a memory task is negatively skewed, meaning there are a few extremely low scores that pull the tail of the distribution to the left. Arrange the following measures of central tendency in order from the lowest numerical value to the highest numerical value based on this distribution's shape.
In a psychological study where a distribution of scores is highly skewed by a single extreme outlier, the mean is a more valid descriptive statistic than the median for evaluating the typical performance of the sample.
Measures of dispersion, such as the standard deviation and variance, are descriptive statistics used to describe the average scores within a research sample.
Tables in Research Reports
A psychologist studies the sleep patterns of college students and wants to summarize the collected data. Why must the psychologist report both a measure of central tendency (such as the mean) and a measure of dispersion (such as the standard deviation) to provide a complete descriptive summary of the sample's sleep duration?
A researcher records the number of errors made by five participants on a memory task: 3, 8, 2, 5, and 7. The range for this sample is _____.
A research team is summarizing data from a psychology study. Match each descriptive statistic on the left to the research situation on the right where it would be the most appropriate single summary to report.
A researcher reports that two groups of participants completed an identical mood-rating scale (scored 0–100). Group A had a mean of 60 and a standard deviation of 4, while Group B had a mean of 60 and a standard deviation of 22. Although both groups share the same measure of central tendency, a student analyzing these results should conclude that Group B's scores show substantially greater _____ than Group A's scores.
A researcher has collected scores on a stress questionnaire from 80 undergraduate participants and must decide which descriptive statistics to select and report. Arrange the following evaluative steps in the order that best supports an accurate, justified statistical summary of the data.
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In non-experimental research, which of the following is commonly computed to assess the statistical relationship between two naturally occurring variables?
A social psychologist is conducting a non-experimental study to determine the strength and direction of the relationship between the number of friends a person has and their self-reported loneliness. To describe the statistical relationship between these two naturally occurring variables, the most appropriate descriptive statistic to compute is a percentage.
A researcher finds that a specific percentage of students report feeling 'stressed' during finals. To move beyond describing this proportion and analyze how 'stress levels' vary in conjunction with 'hours of sleep,' the researcher computes a correlation coefficient. This statistical shift allows the researcher to evaluate the ______ between these two naturally occurring variables.
A researcher is evaluating the best way to describe the data from a non-experimental study on the link between 'daily stress levels' and 'quality of sleep.' Order the following descriptive methods based on how effectively they assess the statistical relationship between these naturally occurring variables, from the least comprehensive to the most common and robust method.
In non-experimental research, simple percentages are commonly used to describe the proportion of individuals in a sample who engage in a specific behavior or hold a particular belief.
While both are used as descriptive statistics in non-experimental research, what is the specific goal of computing a correlation coefficient as opposed to a simple percentage?
In non-experimental psychology research, different descriptive statistics serve different descriptive goals. Match each statistic to the specific task it is designed to perform.
A researcher is designing a non-experimental study. Match each research goal to the descriptive statistic that best addresses it.
A health psychologist surveys 200 adults and first reports that 45% of them sleep fewer than seven hours per night. She then shifts her focus: she wants to analyze whether adults who consume more caffeine per day also tend to sleep fewer hours. Because this second research goal involves examining the direction and strength of a statistical relationship between two naturally occurring variables in a non-experimental design, she should compute a _____.
A research team is evaluating how to select and apply the most appropriate descriptive statistic for a non-experimental study on the link between daily social media use and academic self-efficacy. Order the following decision steps from first to last.