Selecting and Interpreting Inferential Statistics
Respond to the following short answer questions from Chapter 5 of the Morgan, Leech, Gloeckner, & Barrett textbook:
Compare and contrast a between-groups design and a within-subjects design.
What information about variables, levels, and design should you keep in mind in order to choose an appropriate statistic?
Provide an example of a study, including the variables, level of measurement, and hypotheses, for which a researcher could appropriately choose two different statistics to examine the relations between the same variables. Explain your answer.
What statistic would you use if you wanted to see if there was a difference between three ethnic groups on math achievement? Why?
What statistic would you use if you had one independent variable, geographic location (North, South, East, West), and one dependent variable (satisfaction with living environment, Yes or No)?
What statistic would you use if you had three normally distributed (scale) independent variables (weight of participants, age of participants, and height of participants), plus one dichotomous independent variable (academic track) and one dependent variable (positive self-image), which is normally distributed?
Explain your answer.
