| Term | Definition | Example |
| Statistics | "the process of collecting data and making decisions based on the analysis of these data" |
| dependent variable | the characteristic you are trying to measure |
| independent variable | variations which account for differences in the dependent variable (controlled by experimenter) |
| subject variables | "intrinsic" variables | sex, age |
| manipulated/experimental variables | variables which can be changed by experimenter | |
| statistic | numbers based on direct observation |
| sample statistic | statistic based on a sample |
| parameter | actual ("true") characteristic of whole population |
| confounders | effects which obsure the relation between your statistic and the parameter you are trying to measure. |
| population | all instances of a particular type |
| sample | selected subset of population |
| descriptive statistics | characterization of population based on measurements |
| inferential statistics | tentative conclusions about relationships between statistics |
| nuisance variable | see confounders |
| nominal scale | scale based on "unordered" categories, non-quantitive. | favorite color |
| ordinal scale | scale based on ordered relations | age |
| random selection | required assumption for many statistical tests |
| control | unmanipulated group used to establish validity |
| Reliability | consistency (repeatablity) of measurement |
| Validity | fidelity of measured values to characteristic being considered |