| A | B |
|---|
| two broad categories of research studies | experiments & correlational studies |
| the goal is to determine when a relationship exists & describe it | true of a correlational study |
| correlational study | observes 2 variables; data consists of 2 scores (measurements) for ea. individual |
| goal of an experiment | demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship betwn 2 variables |
| manipulated variable in an experiment | independent variable |
| observed variable in an experiment | dependent variable |
| non-experimental study | the variable that differentiates the groups is usually a pre-existing participant variable |
| data | measurements obtained in a research study |
| goal of statistics | help researchers organize & interpret the data |
| Descriptive statistics | methods for organizing & summarizing data |
| parameter | descriptive value for a population |
| statistic | descriptive value for a sample |
| inferential statistics | using sample data to make general conclusions about a pop. |
| sampling error | discrepancy btwn sample statistic & its population parameter |
