Glossary

ANOVA Short for "Analysis of Variance," this is used to tell you if at least two subgroups on a categorical variable performed significantly different on a dependent variable. This is one of EZAnalyze's Advanced functions.
Area Chart A graph that has a categorical variable on the X axis and a summary number (mean, total number of people) on the Y axis
Axis - X axis The bottom of a bar or area chart; shows you the levels of the categorical variable you selected for the graph
Axis - Y axis The vertical side (left side) of a bar or area chart; displays summary information (mean, total number of people)
Bar Chart A graph that has a categorical variable on the X axis and a summary number (mean, total number of people) on the Y axis
Case A row in EZAnalyze. Each case should contribute uniquely to the EZAnalyze data set. For example, if you are analyzing student data, each case would represent one student. If you are analyzing school test scores statewide, each case would be one school.
Categorical variable A variable that divides your data into groups. For example, if you are looking at data for a High school, a good categorical variable would be "grade level." Other examples are gender, group (experimental vs. control) and race
Correlation A number between negative 1 and positive 1 that indicates the degree of relationship between two variables. The direction of the relationship is indicated by the number being negative or positive, while the strength of the relationship is indicated by the number itself. For example, -.88 would be a strong, negative correlation
Dependent variable A numeric variable that contains information you are interested in. Test scores, number of days absent, and number of behavioral referrals are good examples of dependent variables
Descriptive statistics Descriptive statistics are a broad class of statistics used to simply describe your results.
Difference score A difference score is a new variable that is the difference between two other variables. Allows you to show changes over time with one variable.
Disaggregate Disaggregate means to sort something into categories. In EZAnalyze, disaggregate means to sort your dependent variable by your categorical variable
Distribution of scores The distribution of scores is the range of scores people obtained on a variable, and how many people scored in each category of the variable. For example, the distribution of scores for a variable called gender could be "65 males and 45 females"
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Frequency The frequency is a simple count of how many times something occurred. For example, if 55 people said "yes" to a question, the frequency would be 55
Maximum value The highest number observed in your data for the given variable
Mean The average score of all of the scores in a given range of values
Median The middle occurring number if you laid all of your scores out on a line. For example, the median of 0, 0, 1, 2, 3 is 1, and the median of 5, 5, 5, 5, 100, 111, 112, 113, 114 is 100.
Minimum value The lowest number observed in your data for the given variable
Missing value A number that is not present in your data, and is not included in analyses
Mode The most frequently occurring number. For example, 3 is the mode of 0, 1, 2, 3, 3 because there are more 3's than any other number
NTV A "Numeric Test Value." Used to specify a known mean in the one sample t-test.
Numeric variable A variable that contains "meaningful numbers". For example, if you use the numbers 1 and 2 to represent males and females in your data, "gender" would not be a numeric variable (even though it contains numbers). If you can get a mean score for the variable that makes sense, then it is probably numeric. For example, saying that "the average race in our data was caucasian" does not make sense. Saying "the average test score was 98" does make sense
Percent Mathematically, the number in a category divided by the total number in all categories. Simply put, it is the proportion of scores on a variable relative to the total number of scores
Percentages See Percent
Pie Chart A chart that displays the percent of people in each category. Each slice of the pie represents a category, and the percent of the total that each slice represents is its size
Results report A chart or table that displays the results of an EZAnalyze function
Standard deviation How far, on average, each score in your data deviates from the mean. The larger the standard deviation, the farther each person's score on average was different than the mean
String variable A variable that contains letters. Can not be used as a dependent variable
T-Test, independent A statistical hypothesis test used to indicate the degree of difference between two group means. An EZAnalyze Advanced function
T-Test, one sample A statistical hypothesis test used to indicate the degree of difference between an observed sample mean and the value of a known population mean. An EZAnalyze Advanced function
T-Test, paired A statistical hypothesis test used to indicate the degree of difference between two non-independent (paired) means. An EZAnalyze advanced function
Total score The total of all selected data pieces added up
Valid N The number of people who had usable data for the selected analysis
Variable A column in EZAnalyze. More specifically, a variable is something that can assume different values. The variable "gender" can assume two values, while the variable "gross income" could assume a potentially infinite number of values
X axis The bottom of a bar or area chart; shows you the levels of the categorical variable you selected for the graph
Y axis The vertical side (left side) of a bar or area chart; displays summary information (mean, total number of people)

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