Ed 602 - Lesson 1 - Terminology and Scales of Measurement

Text Assignment for Lesson 1

Course description and course objectives

Overview of course topics and date lesson available

Course requirements and course evaluation

Some terminology for statistics in educational research

Lesson 1 Assignment

Lesson 1 Quiz

Text Assignment for Lesson 1

For lesson 1, read pages 3-6 & 21-23 in Practical Statistics for Educators, Third Edition by Ruth Ravid (2005, University Press of America)
or read pages 12-22 in Basic Statistics for Behavioral Science Research 2nd ed by Mary B. Harris (1998, Allyn and Bacon)
or read pages xi-xiii and 35-49 in Practical Statistics for Educators, 2nd Edition by Ruth Ravid (2000, University Press of America) or read pages xi-xiii and 3-9 in Practical Statistics for Educators by Ruth Ravid (1994, University Press of America). You may order the book through any bookstore or call the Moorhead State University Bookstore and have them order it for you (phone number 218-477-2111).

Course description and course objectives

Course Description

Basic theory, techniques for using descriptive and inferential statistics, and applications in educational research design.

Ed 602 offered through Minnesota State University Moorhead as an internet based course. The course will assist graduate students in education and related fields to achieve the following objectives.

Course Objectives

1. Understand the role the use of statistics and statistical analysis plays in educational research.
2. Understand the role mathematical anxiety may play in learning to use and in using statistical analysis in conducting educational research.
3. Knowledge of common descriptive and inferential statistics used in the research literature in education and human services.
4. Understand rational for and development of selected descriptive statistics.
5. Understand the use of statistics in testing research hypotheses and in generalizing the results of research.
6. Ability to gather data, code data, and prepare data for further statistical analysis.
7. Ability to calculate selected descriptive and inferential statistics with a hand held calculator, and with a personal computer running an advanced spreadsheet program.
8. Ability to select the appropriate inferential statistical test to use with a given research design or research problem.
9. Ability to report the results of descriptive statistics and the results of statistical analysis in APA style.

Overview of course topics

Ed 602 will include the following topics.
 
• Lesson 1. Introduction to course, terminology and scales of measurement
• Lesson 2. Sampling procedures
• Lesson 3. Frequency distributions
• Lesson 4. Graphing frequency distributions
• Lesson 5. Measures of central tendency
• Lesson 6. Measures of variability
• Lesson 7. The normal curve and standard scores
• Lesson 8. Correlation
• Lesson 9. Introduction to statistical inference
• Lesson 10. One sample statistical tests
• Lesson 11. The independent t-test
• Lesson 12. The dependent t-test
• Lesson 13. Analysis of variance
• Lesson 14. Chi-square
• Lesson 15. Testing the significance of correlation coefficients, choosing the proper statistical test
• Take home, final exam

Course requirements and course evaluation

Course Requirements

1. For each of 15 lessons, review the world wide web pages associated with the lesson, and complete the associated readings in one ofthe required texts for the course (Practical Statistics for Educators, Third Edition by Ruth Ravin, 2005, University Press of America, or Basic Statistics for Behavioral Science Research, by Mary B. Harris, 1998, Allyn and Bacon).
2. Complete the assignment associated with each lesson using the Excel spreadsheet program on a personal computer where necessary. Send the completed assignment by electronic mail, by a world wide web response form, or by fax message, to the course instructor. Send electronic mail to instructor with any questions or concerns about any lesson.
3. Complete the brief, web based quiz associated with each lesson.
4. Complete the applied, take home, final examination for the course and send the completed final examination (available as a web based form) to the course instructor.

Course Evaluation

A grade for the course will be based on proportion of possible points achieved on the lesson assignments, and the final examination.

Some terminology for statistics in educational research

1. Qualitative versus quantitative research

Qualitative Research - data typically in narrative form; gathered by use of observations and interviews; results contextual - unique to individual and setting.
Quantitative research - data numerical; gathered by quantifying observations, administering tests and other instruments; results generalizable - attempts to find laws, generalizations.
2. Measurement

Measurement - assigning numbers to observations according to rules.
3. Variables

Variable - a measured characteristic that can assume various values or levels.
• Discrete variables - have only certain values (whole numbers for example).
• Continuous variables - can take any value (accuracy of measurement).
4. Constants

Constant - has only a single value. A certain characteristic (like grade level) can be a variable in one study and a constant in another study.
5. Scales of measurement
• Nominal scale - naming, used to label, classify, or categorize data (gender, SSN, number on athletic jersey, locker number, address).
• Ordinal scale - classification function plus observations are ordered, distance between adjacent values not necessarily the same (olympic medals, finishing place in a race, class rank).
• Interval scale - classification, ordered plus equal intervals between adjacent units (all test scores are assumed to be at the interval scale, temperature Fahrenheit, temperature Centigrade).
• Ratio scale - all of the above plus the scale has an absolute zero, a meaningful zero. Most physical measures are at the ratio level of measurement (height, weight, distance, time, pressure, temperature on the Kelvin scale - absolute zero is -273 degrees Centigrade).
6. Descriptive and inferential statistics
• Descriptive statistics are a way of summarizing data - letting one number stand for a group of numbers, can also use tables and graphs to summarize data.
• Inferential statistics - research statistics, a measure of the confidence we can have in our descriptive statistics, the statistics we use to test hypothesis.
7. Parametric and nonparametric statistics
• Parametric statistics - used with interval and ratio data and usually with data that were obtained from groups randomly assigned, normally distributed, and with equal variability between groups - preferred statistics to use, they are more "powerful" than nonparametic statistics. Examples we will study are t-tests, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation coefficient.
• Nonparametric statistics - used with nominal and ordinal data and sometimes with interval and ratio data when other assumptions can not be met. Examples we will study are the chi-square test and the Spearman rank difference correlation coefficient.

 

Lesson 1 Assignment

For this first lesson, the assignment is to provide the following information about yourself. As you provide this information you should think about what level of measurement would be involved with each item. Send this information by email to your instructor (wassonj@teleport.com). This data will be used (without your name or student number) to do further data analyses in future lessons. The data you are to provide is as follows:
1. Name
2. Email Address
3. Student Number
4. Gender
5. Major for graduate program
6. The name of your major advisor
7. The distance from your home to Moorhead, Minnesota (answer to the nearest whole mile)
8. Favorite color
9. Size of the town (population) in which you attended high school
10. Number of siblings
11. Name of the last book you read (or are reading) which is not a required text for a class
12. Title of the last movie you saw

Lesson 1 Quiz

Please send electronic mail to the course instructor if you have any questions about this lesson or other concerns.

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