Research in Psychology and

Basic Concepts in Statistics

Bryan Q. Engay
Applied Psychology Program
University of the Philippines Extension Program in Pampanga

Basic Concepts
Population entire collection of events/observations we
are interested in studying.
Parameter measurement taken from the population.

Statistic measurements collected from the sample

drawn from the population.

Basic Concepts
Population denoted by the Greek letter (mu) .
*we must always clearly define the population we are
interested in.

Basic Concepts
Samples observations drawn from the population and
used to infer something about the characteristics of the
population.
Sampling frame term used to refer to the population
where samples are drawn from.
Variable/s things/observations/constructs that can be
measured, controlled, or manipulated in research and
can take on different values.

Basic Concepts
Independent variable variables that could have an
effect on other variables and the one usually controlled
in research.
Dependent variable variable affected by the variations
in the independent variable.
Independent variables may be either quantitative or
qualitative and discrete or continuous.

Basic Concepts
Dependent variables are generally, but not always,
quantitative and continuous.
Confounding variables variables that can affect the
outcome of the study, but which are not strictly part of
the study. (have to be controlled in experiments)
Discrete variables variables that can take on only a
limited number of values. (e.g., gender, high school class)

Basic Concepts
Continuous variables variables which can assume, at
least in theory, any value between the lowest and
highest points on the scale. (e.g., age and self esteem
score)
Quantitative data/Measurement Data data which are
results of any sort of measurement.
Categorical data (frequency data or qualitative data)

Basic Concepts
Levels of Measurement of Variables/Scales
1. Nominal variables that allow for only categorization
into named sets. Individual items belong to some
distinctively different categories, but there is no
quantifying or ranking of items.
Examples: male or female, Republican, Democrat, or
Independent.

Basic Concepts
2. Ordinal variables which are ranked in order in terms
of which has less and which has more of the quality
represented by the variable, but not how much more.
Examples: socioeconomic status, military ranks, Holmes
and Rahe (1967) Scale of Life Stress.
3. Interval not only give rank but also quantify and
compare the size differences (interval) between.

Basic Concepts
Examples: temperature, Fahrenheit and Celsius
4. Ratio variables that have an identifiable absolute ot
true zero point.
Examples: length, volume, time

Basic Concepts

Descriptive statistics statistics primarily aimed at

describing or summarizing data into meaningful
framework.

Examples: measures of central tendency (mean,

median, mode), measures of dispersion (standard
deviation, variance), graphical representations of data
or distribution (histograms, graphs, scatter plot etc.)

Basic Concepts
Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) or Exploratory
Statistics (developed by John Tukey) necessity of paying
close attention to data and examining them in detail
before invoking more technically involved procedures.
Inferential statistics inferring hypotheses or educated
guesses from the sample to the population with the use
of statistical procedures.

Basic Concepts
Cornerstones of Research
Validity measures what is supposed to be measured in
research.
Reliability replicability of findings in research.
External validity refers to whether or not experimental
or research results can be generalized to a real-world
situation.

Basic Concepts
Internal validity manipulation of variables in research
has led to an observed/desired difference.
Hypothesis a formal way of expressing a question as a
prediction that can be tested.
Null hypothesis hypothesis that states that there will
be no effect of the independent variable on the
dependent variable.