Statistical principles

Explanations > Social Research > Statistical principles

There are a number of basic principles of statistics that need to be understood when doing social research. Here they are:

• Central limit theorem: Distribution of sample means is normal
• Correlation: Relationship between variables.
• Covariance: Common movement between variables.
• Degrees of freedom: N-1, of course.
• Experimental effect: Importance of result.
• Frequency distributions: Histograms and measures.
• Experimental power: Ability of test to avoid type 2 error.
• Standard error: Spread of sample means.
• Sum of the Squares, SS: Basic measure of spread.
• Variance: Common measure of spread.
• Measuring centering: Mean, median and mode.
• Measuring spread: Range and standard deviation.
• Z-score: A simple deviation measure.

See also

Variation