Standard Deviation

Question 1

What are the steps to finding standard deviation of a set of results?

Answer 1

1. Find the mean of all the data.
2. subtract the mean from each raw value.
3. square each deviation
4. find the sum of the squares.
5. Divide the total by the number of scores minus 1.
6. square root the answer.

Question 2

What does standard deviation tell us?

Answer 2

Tells us how far peoples scores are away from the average score or how spread out the data is (variation)

Question 3

What does a positive skew show?

Answer 3

Majority of the scores fall below the mean (to the right).

Question 4

What does a negative skew show?

Answer 4

Majority of the scores fall above the mean (to the left).

Question 5

What does the variation of the data show?

Answer 5

Psychologists use it to
determine the relevance of their data in supporting their hypothesis (is the mean score a good representation of the whole set of data),