Читать книгу Interpreting and Using Statistics in Psychological Research - Andrew N. Christopher - Страница 55
Chapter 3 Describing Data With Frequency Distributions and Visual Displays
ОглавлениеAfter reading this chapter, you will be able to
Differentiate between a frequency distribution table and a grouped frequency distribution table
Discuss how bar graphs, histograms, and frequency polygons are used to communicate frequency distributions visually
Interpret frequency distribution information conveyed in bar graphs, histograms, and frequency polygons
Discuss how bar graphs, scatterplots, and line graphs are used to communicate relationships between variables visually
Interpret relationships between variables that are displayed using bar graphs, scatterplots, and line graphs
Construct visual displays of frequency data and relationships between variables using SPSS
In the previous chapter, we learned about basic considerations in conducting quantitative research. With these basic concepts in hand, we can now begin discussing what to do once we have collected data from a sample. In this chapter, we will discuss a study by Laura Wendt (2013) that examined predictors of academic burnout in first-year and senior-year college students. We will continue to use this same study and its data in the next three chapters as we extend our discussions of descriptive statistical tools in those chapters. In this chapter, we will first discuss this study, the constructs it examined, and how the constructs were operationalized. In subsequent sections of this chapter, we will discuss ways that researchers can summarize large amounts of data, both with tables and with visual displays. After learning about three commonly used tools researchers use to visually display data and relationships between variables, we will conclude this chapter by using the software program Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to construct these commonly used tools. Be aware that you have access to Wendt’s (2013) data in the file titled “Wendt’s data.sav”. We will use these data later in this chapter and in the next chapter.
