Socy 4156

Whitmeyer

Spring 2008

Study Guide for Test 1

You should be able to:

Explain the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.

Explain the difference between a sample and a population.

Explain why researchers often use samples.

Determine the level of measurement of any variable (that is, whether the variable is nominal, ordinal or interval/ratio).

Determine whether a variable is continuous or discrete.

Transform raw data into frequency and percentage distributions.

Create and explain cumulative percentage distributions.

Create and interpret presentation-quality frequency, cumulative frequency, percentage and cumulative percentage tables.

Create presentation-quality bar graphs, histograms, and line graphs.

Calculate and interpret modes, medians and means.

Explain when each type of average is appropriate.

Define and calculate standard deviations and variances for populations.

Recognize when standard deviations and variances are appropriate or inappropriate (i.e., according to level of measurement).

Calculate Z-scores for scores of a variable.

Determine the proportions corresponding to different score ranges in a normally-distributed population (i.e., the area under the normal curve).