Data analysis and interpretation (HL)
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All 19 Flashcards — Data analysis and interpretation (HL)
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Question
What does data analysis do?
Answer
Turns raw data into meaningful, interpretable evidence.
Question
What does a bar chart show?
Answer
A comparison between groups or categories.
Question
What does a box-and-whisker plot show?
Answer
The spread and median of a data set.
Question
What does a scatter plot show?
Answer
The relationship (correlation) between two variables.
Question
Central tendency vs spread?
Answer
Central tendency = mean/median/mode; spread = range/standard deviation.
Question
What does the standard deviation show?
Answer
How spread out the data are around the mean.
Question
Does 'significant' mean 'large'?
Answer
No — it means unlikely to be due to chance; the effect can still be small.
Question
What is thematic analysis?
Answer
Identifying recurring themes in qualitative data to capture meaning.
Question
Why report spread as well as the mean?
Answer
Two groups can share a mean yet differ hugely in variation.
Question
Which concept does data analysis link to?
Answer
Measurement — analysis turns raw data into meaning.
Question
What is the null hypothesis?
Answer
The prediction that there is no difference or relationship; any pattern is due to chance.
Question
What does p < 0.05 mean?
Answer
Less than a 5% probability of a result this strong if the null hypothesis were true: statistically significant.
Question
Which test: two independent groups, interval data?
Answer
Unrelated (independent) t-test; Mann-Whitney U if the data are ordinal or skewed.
Question
Which test: repeated measures, interval data?
Answer
Related (paired) t-test; Wilcoxon signed-rank if ordinal or skewed.
Question
When is chi-square used?
Answer
For nominal data: counts of people in categories, testing a difference or association.
Question
Type I vs Type II error?
Answer
Type I = false positive (reject a true null); Type II = false negative (miss a real effect).
Question
What is effect size?
Answer
How big a difference or relationship is (e.g. Cohen's d 0.2 small, 0.5 medium, 0.8 large), separate from significance.
Question
Positive skew: which average?
Answer
Use the median: a few very high scores pull the mean above it.
Question
Semi-interquartile range?
Answer
Half the distance between the first and third quartiles: the spread of the middle 50%, not affected by outliers.
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Data analysis and interpretation
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