1.

Statistical analysis
1.1: Statistics
1.1.1: State that error bars are a graphical representation of the variability of data. Error bars can be used to show either the range of the data or the standard deviation. 1.1.2: Calculate the mean and standard deviation of a set of values. Mean: arithmetic mean or average is a measure of the central tendency (middle value) of the data. Caution should be used as the distribution may be skewed and the mean may in fact not be the middle value. Standard Deviation (s): measure of the spread of data around the mean. Can be used either as a measure of variation within a data set or of the reliability of a measurement such as the mean. 1.1.3: State that the term standard deviation is used to summarize the spread of values around the mean, and that 68% of the value fall within one standard deviation of the mean. 1) Standard deviation is a measure of how spread out the data values are from the mean. 2) It is assumed that there is a normal distribution of values around the mean and that the data is not skewed to either end. 3) 68% of all data values in a sample can be found between the mean +/- 1 standard deviation. 4) 95% of all data values in a sample can be found between the mean +/- 2 standard deviations. 1.1.4: Explain how the standard deviation is helpful for comparing the means and spread of data between two or more samples. A sample with a small standard deviation suggest narrow variation (less error/ less uncertainty), but a second sample with a larger standard deviation suggests wider variation (more error/ more uncertainty) Standard deviation can be used to determine if a single measurement lies outside the normal data range. The mean +/- standard deviation cannot be used for inferantial statistics (drawing conclusions regarding differnces). (A small standard deviation indicates that the data is clustered closely around the mean value. Conversely, a large standard deviation indicates a wider spread around the mean.) 1.1.5: Deduce the significance of the difference between two sets of data using calculated values for t and the appropriate tables. If you carry out a statistical significance test, such as the t-test, the result is a P value, where P is the probability that there is no difference between the two samples. A. When there is no difference between the two samples: A small difference in the results gives a higher P value, which suggests that there is no true difference between the two samples. By convention, if P > 0.05 you can conclude that the result is not significant (the two samples are not significantly different).

B. When there is a difference between the two samples: A larger difference in results gives a lower P value, which makes you suspect there is a true difference (assuming you have a good sample size). By convention, if P < 0.05 you say the result is statistically significant. If P < 0.01 you say the result is highly significant and you can be more confident you have found a true effect. Requirements: Normal distribution with a sample size of at least 10. Used to compare two sets of data and measure the amount of overlap. A two-tailed, unpaired t-test is expected. 1.1.6: Explain that the existence of a correlation does not establish that there is a causal relationship between two variables. It is important to realize that if the statistical analysis of data indicates a correlation between the independent and dependent variable this does not prove any causation. Only further investigation will reveal the causal effect between the two variables. Correlation does not imply causation. Here are some unusual examples of correlation but not causations: - Ice cream sales and the number of shark attacks on swimmers are correlated. - Skirt lengths and stock prices are highly correlated (as stock prices go up, skirt lengths get shorter). - The number of cavities in elementary school children and vocabulary size have a strong positive correlation. Clearly there is no real interaction between the factors involved simply a co-incidence of the data. Once a correlation between two factors has been established from experimental data it would be necessary to advance the research to determine what the causal relationship might be.