Research Methods- Inferential Statistics

Inferential statistics are used to show how likely it is that an effect or difference, as seen, for example, between conditions of an experiment, has arisen by ________?_________

If an effect is highly unlikely to have arisen by chance, then psychologists find that is more _____?________ significant, and record a positive result.

For example, if examining reaction time with and without alcohol, psychologists may have a _____?______ predicting that reaction time with alcohol will be slower than reaction tie without alcohol. If people's reaction times with and without alcohol are very similar, it's likely that alcohol does not make a significant _____?_____ to reaction time.

However, if reaction time with alcohol is considerably longer than without alcohol, it is likely that this effect has not occurred by chance. To test this, _______?_______ tests are used.

____________?_____________ statistics allow us to draw conclusions, such as using a ________?____ to see that one group of participants does better on a task than another group. But inferential statistics tell us whether or not this difference is significant.

When completing an inferential test, both a null and ____?___ hypothesis are needed.

Inferential tests can also assess whether there is a significant _____?_____ between two variables.

What is meant by 'chance in inferential statistics is linked to ____?_____. Psychologists, can never be totally sure that an observed effect was not due to chance, but it is possible to state how certain you can be. In general, psychologists use a ____?____ level of p is less than or equal to ___?___. This means that there is less than or equal to a___?___ possibility that the results occurred by chance.

If psychologists want to be more __?__, they will use p is less than or equal to 0.01 or 0.001, rather than p is less than or equal to 0.05. In these cases, the probability that the observed effect occurred by chance are __?__ respectively. The chosen value of 'p' is called the __?___.