Psychologiy: Statistical Issues
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The number of participants within a study influences the amount of statistical power a test attains.
Statistics are important in advancing societal issues concerning tolerance and diversity because it helps to promote positive change. Statistics also advance levels of tolerance within societies as it assists in exploring alternative opinions, experiences, and beliefs of other cultures or minorities.
Although statistics may be limiting for individuals in some ways, explain its overall importance in advancing societal issues concerning tolerance and diversity.
research data is normally distributed among the population
An inaccurate assumption often made in a research study is that __________.
If a researcher establishes the critical values of a study to be more conservative, the more power the researcher has in finding significant support for a hypothesis. In the same sense, the less conservative the established critical values are, the less power a researcher has in finding significant support for a hypothesis.
Explain how critical value variations influence statistical power.
A Type I significance error occurs when a researcher claims to have found significant support for a hypothesis when there is not enough support to make this claim. A Type II significance error occurs when a researcher claims to have found no significant support for a hypothesis when there is actually enough to claim significance.
Explain the difference between a Type I significance error and a Type II significance error.
In research when a significant result is found that means it has been shown through statistical tests that one variable has had an effect on another. If it is a low effect size though it means that the effect is not large enough to prove a hypothesis.
Explain what it means when a researcher finds significant results in a statistical test that has a low effect size.
Low statistical power could be considered a limitation in statistics because statistical power refers to the probability of correctly finding adequate support for a research hypothesis. If a statistical test has low power, then it is limited in finding adequate support. As a result, this increases the probability of making statistical significance errors and could lead to a researcher making inaccurate assumptions or misinterpreting statistical data.
Explain why having low statistical power could be considered a limitation for a statistical test.
Firstly, many statistics are taken from a small group of people used to represent the general population. Say a news channel reported that 81% of teenagers in America were planning on going to a four-year college. This statistic is most likely taken from a randomly selected group of teenagers, and calculated with a margin of error. Because after all, it's nearly impossible to survey every single teenager in America. This can lead to some statistics that are not really representative of the actual percentage of people. This only gets more likely the larger the general population being "surveyed" is. Another reason is that the media is not always truthful with statistics. Things can be altered and not many people will notice.
Explain why it is important to be skeptical of statistical results reported in the media.
Lack of Research: When a study does not fulfills the research method's requirements, it is not considered to be a valid one. No Evidence: When researchers fails to provide a valid evidence of their findings then, such work is not be trusted and the study becomes invalid. Biased opinions: A study, which follows all the process, provides evidence but is biased in one way or the other, then such study is also categorized as invalid.
List three reasons why a study may be considered invalid.
A statistical test having high power also has high probability for finding significant support
Which statement about the relationship between statistical power and statistical probability is true?