Introduction to

Psychological Statistics

Presented by:
Zaralyn Bernardo-Santos, MPsy,
RPsy
Methods of Knowing

• 1. Authority- Consider the truth based on

tradition and some person of distinction
• 2. Rationalism- Uses reasoning to arrive
at knowledge.
• 3. Intuition- sudden insight that springs
into consciousness
• 4. Scientific Method- uses both
reasoning and intuition
Statistics

• Refers to a set of mathematical procedures for

organizing, summarizing, and interpreting
information.
• Consists of facts and figures such as average
income, crime rate, birth rate, average
snowfall, and so on.
Population and Samples

• Population, is the set

of all the individuals of
interest in a particular
study.
• Sample, is a set of
individual selected
from a population,
usually intended to
represent the
population in a
research study.
Variables and Data

• A variable is a characteristic or condition that

changes or has different values for different
individuals.
❖ Independent variable (IV)- variable that is
being manipulated and has an effect on the
other variable
❖ Dependent variable (DV)- variable that is
being measured to determine the effect of
DV
• Data, measurements or observations.
Parameter and Statistic

• Parameter is usually a numerical value that

describes a population.
• Statistic is usually a numerical value that
describes a sample.
 Sample Problem

• A professor wants to determine whether an

experimental birth control implant has impact on
depression. A group of 500 women volunteered
for the study, and the gynecologist selects 100 of
these women to participate in the experiment.
Fifty of the women are assigned to Group 1
(received surgically impanted birth control device)
and another 50 participants assigned to Group 2
(received placebo implants). A standardized
questionnaire was given to measure the degree of
depression, whereas, the higher the mean score
the mored depressed they were.
Sample Problem

• Provide the following based on the

presented problem:
1. Independent Variable
2. Dependent Variable
3. Sample
4. Population
5. Statistics
6. Parameter
Descriptive Statistics and Inferential
Statistics
• Descriptive statistics are statistical procedures
used to summarize, organize, and simplify
data.
• Inferential Statistics consist of techniques that
allows us to study samples and then make
generalizations about the populations from
which they were selected.
Sample Problem
• Indicate which of the following situations involve
descriptive statistics and which involve inferential
statistics.
1. The sample data from a poll are used to
estimate the opinion of the population.
2. A study on a sample to determine whether
educational level and income in the population are
related.
3. A history instructor tells his class the number of
students who received a A on recent exam.
Sampling Error

• It is the discrepancy, or amount of error, that

exists between a sample statistic and the
corresponding population parameter.
Scientific Research

• Observational research- no variable are

actively manipulated by the ivestigator.
1. Naturalistic observation
2. Descriptive research/ parameter estimation
research
3. Correlational research
• Experimental Research- manipulation is
made to determine whether changes in
one variable cause changes in another
variable.
 Comparing Two (or more) Groups of Scores:
Experimental and Nonexperimental

The Experimental method

Manipulation. The researcher manipulates one
variable by changing its value from one level to
another. A second variable is observed (measured) to
determine whether the manipulation causes changes
to occur.
Control. The researcher must exercise control over
the research situation to ensure other
that extraneous variables do not ,
relationship being
influence the
examined.
Essential Characteristics of
Experimental Research

Comparison of Groups:
• The experimental group receives a treatment of some sort
while the control group receives no treatment.
• Enables the researcher to determine whether the treatment
has had an effect or whether one treatment is more effective
than another.

Manipulation of the Independent Variable:

• The researcher deliberately and directly determines what forms the
independent variable will take and which group will get which form.
Essential Characteristics of
Experimental Research

Randomization
• Random assignment is similar but not identical to random selection.

• Random assignment means that every individual who is

participating in the experiment has an equal chance of being
assigned to any of the experimental or control groups.

• Random selection means that every member of a population has an

equal chance of being selected to be a member of the sample.
• Three things occur with random assignments of subjects:
1) It takes place before the experiment begins
2) Process of assigning the groups takes place
3) Groups should be equivalent
Types of Designs

◻ The basic structure of a research study . . .

particularly relevant to experimental research
◻ Types of experimental designs (Campbell &
Stanley, 1963)
🞑 Quasi-experimental

🞑 True experimental
SCALES OF
MEASUREMENT
 SCALES OF
MEASUREMENT

❑ Nominal scale
❑ Ordinal scale
❑ Interval scale
❑ Ratio scale

2
Measurement
Scale
SCALE MAGNITUDE EQUAL ABSOLUTE
INTERVALS ZERO

NOMINAL
X X X
ORDINAL  X X
INTERVAL
  X
RATIO
  

1
9
Nominal Scale
❑ Simple classification
ofobjects or
items into discrete groups.
❑ Eg. Naming of persons
streets, and cars

2
0
 Ordinal
Scale
❖ Scale involving ranking of objects,
persons, traits, or abilities
without regard to equality of
difference.
❖ Eg. Line up the students of a class
according to height or merits.

2
1
Ordinal Scale

Ordinal scales are typically measures of non-numeric

concepts like satisfaction, happiness, discomfort, etc.

With ordinal scales, the order of the values is

what’s important and significant, but the differences
between each one is not really known.

Ordinal” is easy to remember because is sounds

like “order” 2
2
Interval
Scale
❑ Interval scales are also called
equal unit scales.
❑ Scale having equal difference
between successive categories
❑ Eg. Intelligence scores, personality
scores

2
3
Interval Scale

Interval scales are numeric scales in which we know both the order
and the exact differences between the values.

At Interval level, we willhave meaningful differences

between values.

At the interval level, we have addition and subtraction to work

with.

With intervaldata, we can addandsubtract, but cannot

multiply or divide. 2
4
Interval Scale

Interval scales are numeric scales in which we know both the order
and the exact differences between the values.

At Interval level, we willhave meaningful differences

between values.

At the interval level, we have addition and subtraction to work

with.

With intervaldata, we can addandsubtract, but cannot

multiply or divide. 2
5
Ratio Scale

❑ Scale having an absolutezero,

magnitude and equal intervals
❑ Eg. Height, weight, number of
students in various class

2
6
Ratio Scale

•Good examples of ratio

variables include height and
weight.

•Ratio scales provide a wealth of

possibilities when it comes to
statistical analysis. These
variables can be meaningfully
added, subtracted, divided and 2
7
Practice Question

1. Brand of Cars
2. MMPI
3. Celsius Temperature
4. Kelvin Temperature
5. Percentile
Practice Question

1. Time
2. Race winners
3. Sample size in a research
4. Pro and Anti Duterte
5. SAT score