Outline for this weeks class

common types visual displays for

PSYC 2002 data
Introduction to statistics in basic math
psychology
central tendency
Winter 2017 mean / median / mode

W-2 variability
variance / standard deviation

1 2

Readings Visual displays of data: Graphs

displaying data & descriptive statistics graphs can have positive and
OT pp. 65-112 (Graphing negative uses
Distributions); can accurately and succinctly

OT pp. 123-135. 144-157 present information

(Summarizing Distributions: can reveal/conceal complicated

sections A1-3; B, & C) data

3 4

Graphs can mislead Graphs can mislead

Ithaca Times scales over
cover December different periods
7, 2000: the 35 vs. 12 years

most misleading rank actually lower

graph ever improves! 11th
published
(Friendly, 2010) 6th

higher

5 6
Another misleading graph Graphs of data described so far
Reuters, Dec 10, 2013 frequency distribution
histograms
frequency polygons

https://twitter.com/jk_keller/status/410498080765919232/photo/1/large

fixed by Jonathan Keller, Dec 11, 2013

original replaced by Reuters
7 8

Common types of graphs: Bar graph Common types of graphs: Bar graph
when the independent variable is
nominal and the dependent variable
is interval
Pareto chart: bar graph in which
categories along the x-axis are
ordered from highest to lowest

9 10

Common types of graphs: Bar graph Common types of graphs: Line graph
bar graphs can be used to highlight
differences between means

11 12
Common types of graphs: Scatterplot Common types of graphs: Scatterplot
scatterplot: graph that depicts the
relation between two scale variables
observing every data point

linear relationships
nonlinear relationships

13 14

Choosing a graph based on variables Whats wrong with this graph?

one interval variable: histogram or
frequency polygon
one interval independent & dependent
variable: scatterplot or line graph
one nominal independent & one interval
dependent variable: bar graph
>two nominal independent & one interval
dependent variable: bar graph

15 16

Some basic math-related concepts:

Statistical notation: Example
Statistical notation
summation notation = sigma example of statistical notation using
mean (aka average) = M

N or n = number of scores, M = (X + X + X + X )/N

1 2 3 N
observations, etc. = (X)/N
X, Y = variable names

17 18
Order of operations in formulas Significant digits
statistical formulas follow standard 12/3 = 4 (no remainder)
rules for the ordering of mathematical 12/7 = 1.714285714 (remainder!)
operations all the digits to right of decimal are

1. operations in parentheses necessary for perfect accuracy

2. squaring however, in practice, only the first

3. multiply/divide three digits past the decimal are

4. add/subtract typically used in publications
use two significant digits in PSYC

19 2002 20

Descriptive statistics Definition of central tendency

summary of data using a small set of
numbers
middle of distribution (average)
how spread out (variability)
statistical measure that takes one
number as representative of a group
economical estimate of the general
characteristics of a group
three main measures
mean

median

mode

21 22

Mean Mean: Example

mean = arithmetic mean, arithmetic grades
Psychology midterm 1 = 63%
average, or average
Psychology midterm 2 = 72%
add all scores; divide sum by number
Psychology final exam = 73%
of scores
mean Psychology grade (assume equal
mean = X weighting of each test)
M= = (63 + 72 + 73)/3
N = 208/3
= 69.333%
23 24
Symbols for mean Characteristics of the mean
(mu) = population mean changing a score or adding an

X (x-bar) = sample mean additional score will change the mean

M = sample mean adding or subtracting a constant will
M is the symbol used by APA to
affect the mean by the same amount
refer to the sample mean multiplying or dividing each score by
a constant will affect the mean in the
same way
sensitive to extreme scores: outliers
25 26

Characteristics of the mean Median: Definition

effect of an outlier on value of mean median = score that divides a
distribution exactly in half; 50% of
scores are above the median and
50% are below

27 28

Determining the median Example of calculating the median

odd number of scores 5, 7, 2, 6, 9, 3, 4
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9
1. rank order scores
Median = 5
2. median = middle score
5, 7, 2, 6, 9, 3, 4, 5, 5
even number of scores
2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9
1. rank order scores Median = 5
2. find middle two scores 5, 7, 2, 6, 9, 3, 4, 8
3. calculate value half way between 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
middle scores Median = 5.5

29 30
 Selection of a measure of central
Mode
tendency: Mode
mode: most frequent score easy to compute (no computation!)

major mode: larger of two modes usable with any scale of

minor mode: smaller of two modes measurement

bimodal: two modes that are the not usable with other types of

same size (sometimes used to refer statistical measures

to a distribution with two modes)
multimodal (modal): at least two
modes

31 32

Selection of a measure of central Selection of a measure of central

tendency: Median tendency: Mean
used if extreme scores distort mean uses every score in distribution

score with an undetermined value used to construct other important

(e.g., participant did not complete descriptive statistics (e.g., variance

task) and standard deviation)
open-ended distribution (e.g., size 10 considered to be most appropriate

or more footwear) measure of central tendency

data derived from ordinal scale (exceptions noted above)

33 34

Central tendency & distribution 1: Central tendency & distribution 2:

Symmetrical distribution Symmetrical distribution
normal bimodal: mean &

distribution: median same

mean, median, & value in centre of
mode are same distribution; two
value modes on either
side of mean &
median mode mode
mean
median mean
median
mode
35 36
Central tendency & distribution 3: Central tendency & distribution 4:
Symmetrical distribution Asymmetrical distribution
rectangular: no positively

mode; mean & skewed: mode

median same smallest value;
value median between
mean and mode;
mean largest mode
value median
mean
mean
median
37 38

Central tendency & distribution 5:

Variability
Asymmetrical distribution
negatively observations are not all the same
skewed: mean can the dispersion of scores be
smallest value; quantified?
median between
mean and mode;
mode largest mode
value median
mean

39 40

Range Variance: Deviation scores

difference between highest and
lowest scores: subtract the lowest
score from the highest score
pro: easy to calculate
con: only incorporates two scores in a
distribution; does not provide any
information about scores between
endpoints of distribution
41
variance is based on the mean: how
far away are the scores from the
mean?
derivation of variance
deviation = X - M; e.g., mean = 73,
X = 60; deviation = -13
repeat deviation calculation for all
scores in the distribution and tally
result
42
Limitations of deviation scores Modification to deviation scores
X X-M * sum of deviations need alternative...
60 -13.0 about the mean deviation scores can be squared to
80 +7.0 always = zero eliminate - & + signs; resulting sum of
68 -5.0 this is not squared deviations will always be a
84 +11.0 useful... positive sum

sum = 0
*M = 292/4 = 73

43 44

Calculation of variance Formula for variance

X X-M (X-M)2 divide resulting formula

60 -13 169 sum of squares
by number of
80 +7 49 scores to obtain
68 -5 25 variance (mean
84 +11 121 squared average squared deviations about the
deviations) mean
sum of
squares = 364 364/4 = 91 this is the formula for population
variance
45 46

Formula for variance Limitations of variance

this is the formula for the variance of variance not widely used by itself as a
a sample descriptive statistic because it uses
squared units

note that N has been replaced by N-1

(well cover the reason for this change
in a later lecture)
47 48
Sum of squares
variance contains an important
component: sum of squares (SS)
SS = (x M )2
used to calculate many descriptive &
inferential statistics
it is essential that you become
familiar with the concept of variance
and SS
49
Sum of squares: Definition formula
the formula for the sum of squares
SS = (x M )2
is the definition formula. It requires
1) the calculation of the mean
2) subtraction of the mean from each
value
50

Variations in calculation of standard

Standard deviation
deviation
standard deviation = square root of SS population
variance SD = standard
N deviation
sample
SS standard
retains same measurement units as SD =
original scores & mean (N 1) deviation

51 52

Variations in symbols for standard

Variations in symbols for variance
deviation
variance
SS population
generic variance: SD2
SD = = standard
N deviation population variance: 2

sample variance: s2
sample
SS standard
SD = =s deviation
(N 1)
53 54
Next
Describing bivariate data
OT pp. 164-180 (sections A-E)

55