PsychSim: Descriptive Statistics

For tomorrow, I'd like you to practice your Descriptive Statistics skills as you complete a PsychSim module on the topic. I know for many of you this will be a review of math concepts learned long ago, but sometimes I've found that our knowledge of these things has faded a bit with time.

To access the site, use THIS LINK and click on "Descriptive Statistics" from the menu screen that pops up.

You'll need to complete these brief practice problems.

Basic Psychological Statistics

Before you left class today, you should have received this practice worksheet that requires you to apply some statistics knowledge to hypothetical quiz scores. Your textbook does cover these topics, and many people have encountered them before in other classes, so I'm hoping for many of you this is a simply a matter of review.

However, because some of you might feel lost or in need of additional help, I'm embedding below a video that I made for last year's students regarding this topic. Be warned, I was cutting it close when I recorded this and you'll hear the bell ringing toward the end. However, it should clear up confusion regarding the various descriptive and inferential statistics you'll need to be familiar with for this unit.

Additionally, if you feel you want more practice matching correlational coefficients with scatterplots, here's the link to the website we used in class today.

Having troubles playing the video? If the player above doesn't work, try here.

Descriptive Statistics

It's everybody's favorite time of year: the time in AP Psychology class where we closely examine how descriptive statistics (particularly, standard deviation and z-scores) help us make sense of test data.

To help with practice on basic descriptive statistics, students should complete this PsychSim Module on Descriptive Stats. Lost the worksheet you got in class? You can print another one here. Just note that it is two pages, so be sure to complete/print both sides.

Still lost when it comes to normal distributions, z-scores, and percentile ranks? You might wish to review this video from a fellow AP Psych teacher, who has posted it to help you with your review.

Basic Psychological Statistics

Okay, I think this should work! In order to make sure everyone is feeling comfortable with their basic statistical methods, I'm having you complete some questions as you view the presentation below (you should have received these in class). As a bonus, since I was trying to finish up the recording during the lunch hour, at the very end you can hear the main office making announcements...that's how close I was cutting it.

Additionally, if you feel you want more practice matching correlational coefficients with scatterplots, here's the link to the website we used in class today.

Good luck! Be sure to make a note of any questions you have so I can address them tomorrow if needed. :)

Having troubles playing the video? If the player above doesn't work, try here.

Math Invades Psychology Class




Frequency Histogram for Composite Scores on Final Exam

 Students tend to have strong feelings about mathematics...so when the topic comes up in AP Psych I usually get a "love it" or "hate it" reaction from students. Regardless of one's emotional response to math, however, it is helpful to know some basic statistical concepts if you're trying to make sense of some things in psychology, particularly test score interpretation (e.g. in intelligence and personality testing).

So, in addition to the practice on basic descriptive statistics students are completing for tomorrow (to access the accompanying PsychSim Module for this WS, click here), we've been using some meaningful examples of score distributions to become more comfortable with the topic. Particularly, we've been examining performance data from our 1st Semester final (which, as the frequency histogram above illustrates, distribute rather normally).

However, if you're still feeling confused about z-scores, the normal curve, percentile ranks, and standard deviation, there are a number of great websites out there to give you some guidance (unfortunately, our text does not go into a great amount of detail about these statistical concepts). Consider consulting any of these for review:

• A Beginner's Guide to Descriptive Statistics (includes examples and procedure for calculating standard deviation).
• Online calculator for descriptive stats (can copy & paste data and it will give you the standard deviation, among other measures)
• Handy, printable guide to the Normal Curve & Z-scores
• Statistics Tutorial: Standard Normal Distribution (& z-scores)

If you come across any other sites that you feel would be helpful to a beginning psych student, please include them in the comments section. I'd love to add them to my list.