NORMS AND

BASIC
STATISTICS FOR
TESTING
 PART I:
BASIC STATISTICS FOR TESTING
Why Do We Need Statistics?
 Statistics are used for the purpose of
description. It provides convenient
summaries and allow us to evaluate some
observations relative to others.

 Statistics are also used to make

inferences which are logical deductions
about events that cannot be observed
directly.
Levels/Scales of Measurement
 Measurement – application of rules for
assigning numbers to objects. The rules are
the specific procedures to transform qualities
of attributes into numbers.

 Types of scales/levels:
Nominal
Ordinal
Interval
Ratio
Levels/Scales of Measurement
A. Nominal Scale
 It simply represents the qualitative or categorical
differences of the variables measured. It is just for
labelling purposes, nothing more.

 Examples:

Nominal Scale Categories

Gender Male or Female
Responses Yes or No / Agree or Disagree
Race Asian, American, African, etc.
Course Art or Science
Colleges College of Sciences, College of
Engineering, etc.
Levels/Scales of Measurement
B. Ordinal Scale
The categories have different names and are
organized sequentially. As the name implies, it
give order or rank to subjects or items.

In this scale, we can determine the difference

between categories and the direction of the
difference but not the magnitude of the difference.

Examples:
○ Socioeconomic status – upper, middle and lower
○ Contest winners – 1st place, 2nd place, etc.
○ T-shirt sizes – small, medium, large, extra large
Levels/Scales of Measurement
C. Interval Scale
The categories have different names, are organized
sequentially and show the degree of difference.

It has no absolute zero value, meaning it only uses zero as

a reference point but it does not indicate the absence of the
variable being measured.

Examples:
○ IQ (There is not such thing as zero IQ.)
○ Test scores (A zero score does not mean zero knowledge or
the student did not learn anything.)
○ ºC and ºF scales (They have zero value but it does not mean
that there is no temperature at all.)
Levels/Scales of Measurement
D. Ratio Scale
 The categories have different names, are organized
sequentially, show the degree of difference and can
hold an absolute zero value.

 The existence of an absolute zero point means that we

can measure the absolute amount of the variable.

 Examples:
○ Weight
○ Kelvin temperature scale (Has an absolute zero value)
○ Income
○ Age
Seatwork
 What is the level or scale of measurement of the following
variables?

1. The number of psychotherapy clients seen in a week

2. Team standings in UAAP basketball
3. Pulse rate of an individual
4. Jersey number of volleyball players
5. Your score in an anxiety scale
6. A student’s score in a math test
7. The percentile rank from an achievement test
8. The number of pounds lost in a six-week diet
9. The handedness of a person
10. The ratings of aggression shown by children
Seatwork
 What is the level or scale of measurement of the following
variables?

11. The hair color of a person

12. Students’ ranking based on Vincentian qualities
13. The winners in a beauty pageant
14. How quickly a person gives up on a difficult task
15. An adult’s score in a self-esteem rating scale
16. The number of sales call made in an hour
17. The type of grammatical error in a term paper
18. The order of finish in a race
19. Student’s scores on a statistics test
20. The number of hours you study per week
Frequency Distribution
 A single test score means more if a psychologist
relates it to other test scores.

 More meaning will arise if a single test score is

included in a distribution of scores which
summarizes the scores of a group of individuals.

 Frequency distribution – a technique for

systematically displaying scores on a variable or
a measure to reflect how frequently each value
was obtained.
Frequency Distribution
Percentile Ranks
 Percentile rank of a score is the percentage of
scores in its frequency distribution that are the
same or lower than it.

 It answers the question “What percent of the

scores fall below a particular score?”.

 Formula for Simple Frequency Distribution:

B Pr = Percentile Rank
B = the number of scores/cases below
Pr = N x 100 the score of interest
N = the total number of scores
Percentile Ranks
• What is the
percentile rank of
India in terms of
adult literacy rate?

B
Pr = x 100
N

Pr = 7 x 100
21
• India’s percentile
rank in terms of
adult literacy is 33 .
Percentile
 Percentile and percentile ranks are basically
similar. However, percentiles indicate the
particular score below which a defined
percentage of scores fall.

 In the previous slide, India’s 33rd percentile

corresponds with the point or score of 62
(meaning there are 62 literate adults for every
100 adults in India).
Measures of Central Tendency
 These are values which provides a summary
of the characteristics of a given set of data.

 These are descriptive measures that indicate

where the center or most typical value of data
lies.

 The most commonly used measures of

central tendency are the mean, median and
mode.
Mean ( x )
 This refers to the sum of all the given values
or items in a distribution divided by number of
values or items summed.

 Formula for ungrouped data:

sum of the data (ƩX)

x =
total number of data (n)
Mean ( x )
 Example:

45, 51, 43, 57, 49, 50, 46, 46, 55

ƩX 45 + 51 + 43 + 57 + 49 + 50 + 46 + 46 + 55
x = =
n 9

x = 49.11
Seatwork - Mean
 Get the mean of the following sets of values:

A. 86, 80, 75, 78, 86

B. 11, 17, 29, 6, 13, 24, 30, 9, 13, 17

C. 121, 135, 109, 114, 127, 138, 130

D. 5, 12, 3, 14, 14, 11, 5, 7, 2, 11, 14, 6

E. 45, 37, 32, 41, 50, 33

Median (Md)
 This refers to the point in a distribution that
divides the group into 2 parts so that 50% fall
below and another 50% fall above that point.

 Steps and Formula for Ungrouped data:

1. Arrange the data in increasing/ascending order.
2. Let n denote the number of pieces of data and
locate the median using the formula:
(n + 1) / 2
3. The value obtained from the formula points to the
ordinal position of the median.
Median (Md)
 Example:
If the pieces of data is odd, then the median is the
value exactly in the middle of the ordered list.

Data: 26, 9, 31, 35, 17

Ascending Order: 9, 17, 26, 31, 35

(n + 1) / 2 (5+1) / 2 = 3 or 3rd value on the list

Md = 26
Median (Md)
 Example:
If the pieces of data is even, then the median is the
mean of the two middle data values in the ordered list.

Data: 26, 9, 31, 5, 35, 17

Ascending Order: 5, 9, 17, 26, 31, 35

(n + 1) / 2 (6+1) / 2 = 3.5 (denotes value between 3rd and 4th

position)

Md = (26 + 17) / 2
Md = 21. 5
Seatwork - Median
 Get the median of the following sets of values:

A. 86, 80, 75, 78, 86

B. 11, 17, 29, 6, 13, 24, 30, 9, 13, 17

C. 121, 135, 109, 114, 127, 138, 130

D. 5, 12, 3, 14, 14, 11, 5, 7, 2, 11, 14, 6

E. 45, 37, 32, 41, 50, 33

Mode
 This refers to the value or item in a distribution
with the most number of cases or highest
frequency.

 This can be:

Unimodal (e.g. 20,18, 18, 18, 17, 16, 11)
Bimodal (e.g. 4, 4, 7, 11, 6, 5, 8, 5, 2)
Inexistent (e.g. 9, 2, 15, 4, 6, 1, 5, 13)
Standard Deviation (sd)
 This is a measure of variability which indicates how far,
on the average, the data values are from the mean.

 This basically shows the distance of the scores from

one another using the mean as a reference point.

 Formula for Ungrouped Data:

Standard Deviation (sd)
Z score / Standard score
 A statistical procedure which transforms
data into standardized units that are
easier to interpret.

The Z score is
simply the number
of standard
deviations
between the mean
and the raw score.
Converting Z scores to percentiles
 If the Z score is positive, the converted value
will be added to 0.50, The sum will multiplied
by 100, resulting to the equivalent
percentile.

 If the Z score is negative, the converted

value will be subtracted from 0.50, resulting
to the equivalent value. The difference will
be multiplied by 100, resulting to the
equivalent percentile.
Converting Z scores to percentiles
 Example:
A score of +1.67 has a converted value of 0.4525
The converted value will be added to 0.50
0.50 + 0.4525 = 0.9525

The sum will be multiplied to 100, resulting to the

equivalent percentile

(0.9525) (100) = 95.25th percentile

Converting Z scores to percentiles
 Example:
A score of -0.33 has a converted value of 0.1293
The converted value will be subtracted from 0.50
0.50 - 0.1293 = 0.3707

The sum will be multiplied to 100, resulting to the

equivalent percentile

(0.3707) (100) = 37.07th percentile

Converting Z scores to percentiles
 Use the conversion table in Appendix 1, Part II
of Kaplan and Sacuzzo (2011).

 Get the converted values of the following Z

scores to percentiles:
1. +1.72
2. +0.97
3. -2.41
4. -1.60
5. +1.08
Converting Z scores to percentiles
 Assignment:
1. -2.08
2. +0.14
3. -1.90
4. -0.77
5. +0.02
6. +2.85
7. -1.09
8. +0.28
9. -2.63
10. +1.02
T Scores / McCall’s T
 A system of transforming raw scores created
by W.A. McCallin with the purpose of
increasing their interpretive value.

 This is basically the same as Z scores

except that the mean in McCall’s system is
50 rather than 0 and the standard deviation
is 10 rather than one.

 Formula: T = 10Z + 50
Quartiles and Deciles
 Quartiles – divides the frequency distribution
into 4 equal parts: Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4.

 Deciles – divides the frequency distribution

into 10 equal parts: D1 to D10.
Stanine System
 A system which Cases Percentiles Stanine
converts any set of 4% 1-4 1
scores into a 7% 5-11 2
transformed scale, 12% 12-23 3
17% 24-40 4
which ranges from
20% 41-60 5
1 to 9. It has a 17% 61-77 6
mean of 5 and a 12% 78-89 7
standard deviation 7% 90-96 8
of approximately 2. 4% 97-100 9
 PART II:
NORMS IN PSYCHOLOGCAL
TESTING
Norms
 Norms – refers to the performances by defined
groups on particular tests. It serves as a reference
when interpreting or evaluating a test score.

 The norms for a test are based on the distribution

of scores obtained from a defined sample of
individuals.

 Norms are obtained by administering the test to a

sample of people and obtaining the distribution of
scores for that group.
Sample Norm
IQ Score Range Qualitative Percent of Cases
Description
≥ 130 Very Superior 2.2%

120 – 129 Superior 6.7%

110 – 119 High Average 16.1%

90 – 109 Average 50%

80 – 89 Low Average 16.1%

70 – 79 Borderline 6.7%

≤ 69 Extremely Low 2.2%

Norms
 Normative sample – is the group of people whose
performance on particular test is analyzed for
reference in evaluating the performance of individual
test takers.

 Norming – refers to process of deriving norms; may

be modified to describe a particular type of norm
derivation.

 Standardization – refers to the process of

administering a test to a representative sample of test
takers for the purpose of establishing norms.
Sampling to Develop Norms
 Sampling - the process of selecting individuals for a
study. Sampling methods fall into two major
categories:

Probability sampling – the entire population is known, each

individual in the population has a specifiable probability of
selection, and sampling occurs by a random process based
on probabilities.

Non-probability sampling – the population is not completely

known, individual probabilities cannot be known and the
sampling method is based on common sense or ease but
still maintains representativeness and avoids bias.
Age-Related Norms
 Certain tests have different normative groups for
particular age groups. Most IQ tests are of this
sort.

 There are times that you cannot use the norms of

a particular age group on a younger or older age
group. Therefore, you have to use age-related
norms.

 The purpose of establishing norms for a test is to

determine how a test taker compares with others.
Norm-referenced tests vs. Criterion-
referenced tests
 Norm-referenced test
A type of test which compares each person with norm.
Results are used to rank people according to
performance.

 Criterion-referenced test
A type of test which describes the specific types of
skills, tasks or knowledge that the test taker can
demonstrate.
Results are not used to make comparisons among
test takers but to diagnose, document and identify
problems that need remediation.
 ANY QUESTIONS?

“Our ability to adapt is

amazing. Our ability
to change isn't quite
as spectacular.” 

- Lisa Lutz

THANK YOU!