Forensics One of the Most

¶ … Forensics

One of the most important statistical concept that deals with psychological research is the population being studied. Although it may sound preliminary, deciding who to be studied is the most primary, and thus important, subjects in all of research. Specifically, for psychological research, population selection dictates the basis of many of the subjects involved. In something as subtle and imprecise as psychology, the population the research is selected from is that much more important.

Another statistical idea that is of great importance is the relationship between validity and reliability. Once again, subtle and nuanced definitions of these words help create arguments that become documented and eventually known as facts. Understanding the difference and important of each of these terms can also explain misunderstandings that occur in seemingly well thought out experiments and research. Either way, both concepts can lead to learning and improvement, each in their own way.

Some other statistical ideas are very interesting. One such idea is the ability to predict the future with statistical inference. Although nothing is guaranteed in life, through mathematical relationships, statistics can help create images of the future in predictive and systematic ways. This discovery is truly overlooked in many instances, and in others, too heavily relied on. Finding a balanced and reasoned approach to the incorporation of statistical inference to science remains an interesting challenge.

Dunifon (2005) raised another interesting point in dealing with statistical concepts. He wrote that "experiment is the only way to truly determine whether a treatment causes an outcome." I agree with this very interesting concept, as I also believe that the experiment is the only way to bring to life arguments and prove their repeatability, a core concept in the scientific method. Statistics can help describe these relationships by providing a new model or language to present difficult concepts where words often fall short.

Not all of statistical ideas make complete sense to me. One such concept is the idea of "significance." The Statsoft text introduced a revealing concept: " There is no way to avoid arbitrariness in the final decision as to what level of significance will be treated as really "significant." That is, the selection of some level of significance, up to which the results will be rejected as invalid, is arbitrary." It appears that significance as no truly objective value. This is ironic due to the fact that the whole purpose of research is to signify something.