Inferential analysis

- Statistical testing is used to determine whether the results of an investigation are

statistically significant or whether they could have occurred by chance.
- Statistical tests allow us to accept or reject the null hypothesis.
- They are designed for specific purposes and so must be chosen carefully.
Choosing the correct test involves 3 questions:
 What kind of data do you have?
 Are you looking for a correlation or difference between variables?
 What experimental design was used?
Levels of measurement
 Nominal level
Categorical data:
 Nominal data is discrete- data can only appear in one category
 Tells us little about the thing the number represents other than the quantity.
Ordinal level
 Data is ordered in some way
 Numbers with ordinal level of measurement have a position in some kind of rank
 The order of scores matters but not the difference between values.
Interval order of measurement
 Interval data can be ordered, and there are equal intervals between points of a scale
 It is the most precise form of data.

Nominal data : use the mode

Ordinal data: use median, range
Interval data: use the mean, standard deviation

Experimental design