Descriptive Research

Ch. 6

Descriptive research
Descriptive research is designed to describe the

characteristics or behaviors of a given population in a systematic and accurate fashion. May be particularly interested in measures of central tendency rather than establishing associations.

Surveys
Surveys are the most common type of

descriptive research. Cross-sectional survey design sample consists of a cross section of the population Successive independent samples survey design two or more samples of respondents answer the same questions at different points in time
Track general changes in attitudes or constructs over

time Not a within-person design

Longitudinal or panel survey design a

single sample of respondents is questioned

Demographic Research
Demographic research is concerned with

describing patterns of basic life events and experiences such as birth, marriage, divorce, employment, migration, and death.
Often, demographers are interested in

differences in demographic patterns between varying groups.

Epidemiological Research
Epidemiological research studies the

occurrence of disease in different groups of people. Illnesses and injuries are affected by peoples behavior and lifestyles Describes the prevalence and incidence of psychological disorders Points researchers to topics and problems that need attention

Describing and Presenting Data

Criteria of a good description: accuracy,

conciseness, and understandability Descriptive statistics

Raw data are neither concise nor easily

understandable Numerical methods summarize data in the form of numbers such as percentages or means Graphical methods summarize data in graphs or other pictorial form

Frequency Distribution
Frequency distribution a table that summarizes

raw data by showing the number of scores that fall within each of several categories Types of frequency distributions:
Simple frequency distribution Grouped frequency distribution

Frequency histograms and polygons

Stem and leaf displays

Simple Frequency Distribution

Simple frequency distribution indicates the

number of participants who obtained each score

Scores are arranged lowest to highest In the below illustration, people were asked how many

close friends they have.

Friends 1 2 3

Frequency 3 5 2

Grouped Frequency Distribution

Grouped frequency distribution
Shows the frequency of a subset of scores (class

intervals of equal sizes) Often shows relative frequency proportion of the total number of scores that falls in each class interval Must have mutually exclusive categories that capture all possible responses

Grouped Frequency Distribution

Class Interval 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 Frequency 31 61 37 16 9 5 6 3 Relative Frequency 18.5 36.3 22.0 9.5 5.4 2.9 3.6 1.8

Frequency Histograms and Polygons

Class intervals are on the X axis and the

number of scores in each class interval is on the Y axis Histograms are used when the variable on the X axis is on an interval or ratio scale of measurement. Bar graphs are used when the variable is on a nominal or ordinal scale of measurement. Frequency polygon axes are labeled as they are for the histogram but lines are drawn to connect the frequencies of the class intervals

Histogram
20 15

Frequency

10

0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Reported Number of Friends 35 40

Copyright Pearson 2012

Frequency Polygon
20

15

Frequency

10

0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Reported Number of Friends 35 40

Measures of Central Tendency

Convey information about a distribution by

providing information about the average or most typical score.

Mean mathematical average; most commonly

used measure Median middle score of the distribution Mode most frequent score

Presenting Means in Tables and Graphs

When reporting only a few means in a research

report, researchers usually present them in the text.

However, when several means are calculated,

researchers often present them in a table or graph.

Presenting Means in Tables and Graphs

Average scores on a national reading test for 13-year-olds and 17year-olds who reported doing varying amounts of homework per night.

Error Bars and Confidence Intervals

Error bars bars above and below the means in a

graph indicating the researchers confidence in the value of the mean

Confidence interval (CI)
Researchers typically use a 95% CI Provides a range within which the population mean is

likely to fall

Graph including Error Bars

Men
The error bars on the graph show the 95% confidence interval for each mean. If mean weight gain was calculated for 100 samples drawn from this population, the true population mean would fall in 95% of the confidence intervals for the 100 samples. (Data are from Lloyd-Richardson, Bailey, Fava, & Wing, 2009).

Measures of Variability
Knowing the variability tells us how typical the

mean is of the scores as a set. If the variability is small then the mean is a good representation of the scores. Measures of variability are statistics that convey information about the how much scores vary from each other.

Measures of Variability
Range difference between the largest and smallest

scores
Variance takes into account all the scores when

calculating the variability

Standard deviation the square root of the

variance; generally easier to interpret

Normal Distribution
A normal distribution rises to a rounded peak at

its center and tapers off at both tails. Most scores will fall toward the middle of the range of scores.

Normal Distribution
In a normal distribution, about 68% of the

scores fall in a range defined by + or 1 standard deviation from the mean.

Skewed Distributions
Positive skew more

low scores than high scores

Negative skew more

high scores than low scores

Z-score
Describes a particular participants score relative

to the rest of the data. Indicates how far the participants score falls from the mean in terms of standard deviations Useful in identifying extreme scores or outliers (scores that are 3 standard deviations or more from the mean)