IMPORTANCE OF STATISTICS
The tests are
1. MEASUREMENT
Measurement refers to the assignment of
numbers to object or events according to a
specific set of rules (Christensen, 1991).
To measure the variables of the interest to social
and behavioral scientist, we find that
standardized measurement typically does not
exist.
However, the type of information that is
communicated and the arithmetic operations
can be calculated on the numbers assigned to
such variables depending on scales of
measurement being used.
Four different scales:
Nominal
Ordinal
Interval
Ratio scales of measurement
Each scale represents a different way of
information, and allows us to use different
arithmetic operations (Christensen, 1991).
2. EVALUATION
Evaluation is the process of summarizing the
results of tests and assigning meaning based on
the value analysis.
Evaluation is more comprehensive than
measurement.
Evaluation could determine whether a student’s
test score is superior, above average, average,
dull or poor.
3. PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT AND
EVALUATION
It is defined as a scientific way of assigning
numbers or events according to prescribe set of
rules and the accurate appraisal of individuals in
terms of intelligence, aptitude, interest,
personality, and social behavior based on the
test results.
4. TEST
A test is a measurement tool used to identify
the mental capability, personality,
characteristics, behavior, and academic
proficiency od an individual.
Major objective of test is to collect objective
information that may be used in conjunction
with subject information to make better
educational, employment, and clinical decisions.
5. TEST ITEMS
This refers to specific statements to which an
individual’s overt behavioral response can be
scored, interpreted, and evaluated.
composed of items that can be classified,
checked, graded and counted.
6. NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TEST
This refers to test and procedures with proven
sensitivity to the effects of brain damage
(Gregory 2000).
7. PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
This refers to the use of psychological and
educational which are essentially objective and
standardized that measures persons behaviors.
8. BATTERY TEST
This refers to the administration of series of
psychological tests, the result of which are
integrated into a single score interpretation.
9. STANDARDIZED TEST
This refers to the test subjected to thorough
validation processes, such as try-out and
analysis, provides time limits, instructions
scoring standards, undergo reliability and
validity process, and establishing norms.
TYPES OF STATISTICS
1. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
Methods used in providing a concise description
of a collection of quantitative information .
Descriptive statistics are simply numbers, like
percentages, numerals, fractions, and decimals.
These numbers are used to describe or
summarize a larger body of numbers (Kubiszyn,
1996).
2. INFERENTIAL STATISTICS
Methods used in making inferences from
observations of a small group of people known
as “sample” to a larger group of individuals
known as “population”.
Observations are made on a relatively small
group of subjects and inferential statistics are
used to estimate the characteristics of the larger
group called population.
Statistics exist only when there are data. Data
consist of facts, some of which are descriptive or
qualitative facts and characteristics that cannot
be expressed in numerical terms; therefore,
these facts are called attributes
SCALES OF MEASUREMENT
1.1 Scales Properties
Magnitude. It is the property of greater degree.
A scale has the property of magnitude if we can
say that one instance of the attribute represents
more or less amount of quantity of interest than
another instance of the attribute.
Equal Intervals. A scale has the property of
equal intervals if the difference between two
points at any place on the scale has the same
meaning as the differences between two other
points that differ by the same number of scale
units.
Absolute 0. This is obtained when there is
nothing at all of the property being measured.
For psychological qualities, it is very difficult to
define an absolute 0 point. For example, if we
are measuring the aggressiveness on a rating
scale with points 0 to 10, it is hard to say that 0
means the person is not aggressive at all.
TYPES OF MEASUREMENT SCALES
Nominal Scale – the numbers are used to label,
classify, or identify the people or object of
interest. Nominal is the lowest and weakest
degree of measurement because it has no
numerical value and no indication of magnitude.
Ordinal Scale – this is consider as a rank order
scale. This scale determines which is better or
worse than any other. However, the ordinal
scale of measurement does not assess anything
other than rank ordering variables. It only gives
the rank order of position and provides the
property of magnitude.
3. Ratio Scale – this is a scale which has the
three properties: magnitude, equal intervals,
and absolute 0. Each of these scales has a zero
point which implies that there is a total absence
of the characteristics being measured and the
units above this zero point increases in equal
amounts.
4. 4. Interval Scale – this is a scale that has equal
distance between adjacent numbers. In an
interval scale of measurement, you gain the
ability to specify the distance that exists
between the people, objects or events of
interest for the attribute being measured.
FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION
Is a method for systematically showing scores on
an attribute or a measure to reflect how
frequently each value was obtained. It is also
defined as all the possible scores and
determines how many individuals obtain each of
these scores.
Scores are arranged from lowest to highest.
A bell-shaped distribution will have the greatest
frequency of scores toward the center of the
distribution and the frequency of the value
decreases as they become greater or lesser than
the value decreases as they become greater or
lesser than the value in the center of the
distribution (Kaplan,2001).
2 TYPES OF FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION
Simple frequency distribution – summarizes
data effectively only if the spread of the test
scores is small. If there is a large amount of
variation in test scores and many of the test
scores are zeros and so many categories that it
becomes too difficult to interpret the data.
Grouped frequency distribution – consists of
counting the frequency scores that occur in each
of a small number of class intervals. The size of
the class interval refers to the number of
intervals of a given unit size of the class interval
is to subtract the lowest score from the highest
score.
PERCENTAGE
This refers to a part considered in its
quantitative relations to the whole. Usually, a
proportion in a hundred parts.
Formula:
Percentage / % = FNx100
% = Percentage
F = Frequency
N = number of cases
CENTRAL TENDENCY
A measure of central tendency refers to a
measure of average performance. The central is
frequently used to communicate information
about the group of scores
It also suggest that particular different indices
could be used to indicate the most central
location of scores within a distribution of scores.
THE 3 MOST COMMONLY USED MEASURE OF
CENTRAL TENDENCY
Mean. This refers to the average of a group of
numbers. The mean is nothing more than the
average of a group of scores. It is the most
reliable measure of central tendency.
Median. This refers to the middlemost score
when all scores have been ranked. It is also the
score that divide into equal parts, so that of the
scores fall above and half below.
Mode. This refers to the most frequently
occurring score. It is also a score that appears
more times any other scores.
MEASUREMENT OF VARIABILITY AND
DISPERSION
The measurement of variability or dispersion
help us determine how compressed or
expanded the distributions are. It is possible for
two or more distributions to have the same
values for the mean, median, and mode but
may be different in the way their scores are
spread out around these measures. That is why
we must have an estimate of variability.
Range – can be determined by subtracting the
lowest score from the highest score. Sometimes,
the range is defined as the lowest subtracted
from the highest score plus 1. This is called
inclusive range.
Semi-quartile range – is one half the distance
between the first and the third quartile.
c. Standard Deviation – is the square root of the
average squared deviation around the mean. It
is used as a measure of variability in a
distribution of scores.
It is also a measure of dispersion, which
depends on the distance from the mean to each
in the distribution.
It is useful in the field of testing and it is a
measurement which primarily provides a
standard unit of measure having comparable
meaning from one test or score to another test
or score.
It is more precise method of measuring
variability and is based on the difference
between each individual score and the mean of
the group.
The mean must be computed before the
standard deviation can be computed.
Standard Deviation – is a statistics that
characterizes a distribution of score. The larger
the standard deviations, the wider the spread of
scores and the smaller the standard deviation,
the scores are tightly around the central value
or mean.
The measures of variability give us some index
of how much the scores within a distribution
vary about their mean score. For example, if the
standard deviation of a group of scores were 2,
you would know that there was a very little
variability and the scores were clustered closely
around the mean. On the other hand, if the
standard deviation was 12, you would know the
scores varied a lot and deviated quite a bit from
the mean (Christensen, 1991).
Once you know the standard deviation, you can
specify the score that lies at a specific number
of deviation units above or below the mean.
And therefore, the standard deviation is
significant because it tells you where the specific
scores lie within the whole distribution of
scores.
Measurements of relationships and predictions-
are used to describe the relationships between
two variables. It also expresses the extent to
which two variables are associated. It could
predict one score from a combination of several
scores.
CORRELATION
Correlation- is a statistics that describes the
degree of relationship which exists between two
variables. To introduce the concept of
relationship, assume that you want to identify
the correlation or degree of relationship that
exists between 10 students intelligence quotient
(IQ) and the academic performance in three
subjects: Mathematics, Languages, and Science.
The correlation between any two set of scores
can be positive, negative, or zero. A positive
correlation means that an increase in set of
scores correspond to increase in another set of
scores .
A negative correlation means that the increase
in set of scores corresponds to decrease in
another set of scores. A zero correlation means
that there is no relationships between the two
sets of scores. From Table 7 you will observe
that the higher the IQ, the higher also the
academic performance of No. 10 student.
Therefore, the correlation of the IQ and the
academic performance of the 10 students is
positive.
Pearson Product-Moment Correlation –
identifies the degree of linear relationship that
exists between two variables.
Spearman Brown Formula – after the
coefficient correlation is obtained, it is treated
by the Spearman Brown Formula as follows.
Based on the Spearman Brown computation,
the two sets of scores have a very high positive
correlation. Likewise, the reliability of
relationship is very high.
Generally, an r of .80 and above is considered
high coefficient, an r of around .50 is considered
moderate, and an r of .30 or below is considered
low coefficient.
Three Possible Explanations Why Two Variables
X and Y can be Related:
One may be the cause of the other, X may cause
Y.
Y may cause X.
The two variables, the X and Y may be the result
of a common cause or both are related to the
third variable Z.
The major uses of correlation coefficient are the
computation of reliability and validity of the
tests.
The Spearman rho- is a method of correlation
that is used to find the association between two
sets of rank or scores.
The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation is
only one of the many types of correlation
coefficient and it is the most commonly used
because most often we want to find the
correlation between two continuous variables.
Continuous variables can take on any values
over a range of values (Kaplan, 2001). For
example, height, weight and intelligence are
continuous variables. However, there are
situations where we want to find the correlation
between variables which are scaled in other
ways (Kaplan, 2001).
Spearman rho on the other hand, is a method of
correlation that is used to find the association
between two sets of rank. The Spearman rho is
easy to calculate and is often used when the
individuals in a sample can be ranked on two
variables but the actual scores are not known.
NORMS AND TEST STANDARDIZATIONS
Norms- refer to the summary of performance of
a group of individuals who have been
administered a test under standard conditions.
The norms, usually, are the mean and the 50th
percentile. Norms are used to give information
about performance related to what is expected.
Norms are obtained by administering a test to a
sample of people and obtaining the distribution
of scores for that group (Kaplan, 2001).
Stanine Scale- refers to scale in which all raw
scores are converted to a single digit system of
scores ranging from 1 to 9.
ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE CORRELATIONS
METHODS
Spearman is a statistical technique appropriate
for attaining a measure of degree of relationship
between two variables, both of which are
measured on an ordinal scale of measurement.
Within the social and behavioral sciences, many
variables such as honesty, beauty, performance,
leadership ability, social and emotional maturity
are rather difficult to evaluate quantitatively,
and at times, the best you can do is to rank
order the characteristics from first to last or best
to worst. At other times, it may even advisable
to reduce an intervally scaled variable to a rank
order.
Regardless if two variables are assessed on a
rank order basis or on an ordinal scale of
measurement, you may still want to assess the
relationship between two variables. You could
compute a Pearson r between ranking of two
such variables.
However, when the N is small, less than 30,
Spearman r is a faster procedure to use since it
gives the same results when there is no tied
ranks.
Assuming, you are a sport psychologist
interested in the consistency with which judges
from various countries evaluate the athletic
skills of the players.
When many such tied ranks occur, Pearson r and
Spearman r can produce different results; when
they do Pearson r is the more valid index of
correlations. However, unless the number of
tied ranks is quite large, the difference between
Pearson r and Spearman r is small and can be
safely ignored.
Spearman r when the data contain several tied
ranks.
Spearman r is an expedient method of
computing the degree of relationship between
two variables that are ranked ordered. However,
its usefulness arises primarily when two
numbers of subjects is rather exist in the data.
Moreover, it can further, observe that if many
tied ranks occur, it can produce different results.
Point biserial correlation r is a statistical
technique used when between two variables,
one of which is measured on a continuous
interval or ratio scale, and the other is a true
discrete dichotomy (Christensen, 1991)
For example, you would like to know the issue of
sex and the relationship to academic
performance of students. Such situation
requires the point biserial correlation
coefficient because one of the two variables
that you want to correlate, is academic grade a
continuous variable, measured on a ratio scale
and the other variable, sex is a discrete
dichotomy. It can be seen that there are two
possibilities with regard to the sex variable –
students are either female or male.
Discrete variable is a categorized variable; an
arbitrary value is assigned to it. One of the
categories is male with assigned value is
assigned value of 1 and the other category is
female with assigned value of 0.
This provide a numerical value for discrete
variable and that enable us to compute a
numerical coefficient of relationship. Once this
numerical assignment has been made, the
correlation between two variables can be
assessed by computing the point by biserial
correlation coefficient