| Definition |
Term |
| Assignment of # or symbols (renaming, categorical) for purpose of designating subclasses that represent unique characteristics. Weakness level of measurement, meaningless to find mean, standard deviations, etc. | Nominal Scale |
| Assignment of # or symbols identifying ordered relationships of some characteristic but having unspecified intervals. | Ordinal |
| Assignment of # for purpose of identifying ordered relations of some characteristic. Can mathematically see differences between values on the scale. (ie. temperature) | Interval Scale |
| Assignment of # for purpose of identifying ordered relations of some characteristic, order having arbitrarily assigned & equal interval and absolute zero point. Meets math assumptions to perform arithmetic operations. | Ratio Scale |
| nominal and sometimes ordinal | Qualitative |
| interval or ratio | Quantitative |
| Takes on finite number of values. Generally whole numbers. | Discrete variable |
| Where any numaber value can change to another in a given moment (ie. interest rate) | Continuous variable |
| fixed value throughout time (ie. male or female) | Dichotomous variable |
| Basic tool for organizing data. Helps researcher "see" data. Easy to sort from lowest to highest values. Count # of occurances. Add % of occurrance for each score and cumulative frequency. | Frequency Distribution |
| Most frequent score in distribution. Can have more hatn one mode - b i-modal. | Mode |
| sum of scores in distribution divided by number of scores. | Mean |
| Midpoint or midscore in distribution 50% of observations fall above, 50% below. Can be calculated for ordinal, interval or ratio data. | Median |
| Probability of distribution that is symmetrical around the mean. A BELL CURVE. | Normal Distribution |
| Probability curve where a few high numbers pulls the mean to the right. | Skewed right |
| Probability curve where few low numbers pulls the mean to the left | Skewed left |
| Difference between highest and lowest score | Range |
| Measure of how spread out a distribution is. Computed as average squared deviation of each number from its mean. | Variance |
| Test viability of null hypothesis in light of experimental data. Depending on data, null hypothesis either will or will not be rejected as a viable possibility. | Hypothesis Testing |
| Reverse of what experimenter actually believes;put forward to allow data to contradict it. | Null Hypothesis |
| Statement expressing relationships between phenomena. Acceptance or non-acceptance upon logical analysis of data using scientific method. 1st describe prediction (trying to prove)- 2nd describe possible outcomes. | Research Hypothesis |
| Test statistic provides a measure of the amount of difference between the two frequency distributions. | Chi Square - non-parametric |
| Difference between the cost of a particular policy or project to gov unit & benefits to gov unit. | Fiscal Impact Analysis |
| Cost & benefits of competing altern during life of program. Impact of inflation. Present value cals give future value by applying discount rate-considers impact of inflation & growth of services over time. Actual dollars-no inflation, constant dollars yes | Cost Benefit Analysis |
| The location quotient (LQ) is an index for comparing an area's share of a particular activity with the area's share of some basic or aggregate phenomenon. | Location quotient |
| a technique sometimes used for forecasting land use, most often for forecasting changes in a set of urban areas or regions. (ie. employment and population are growing or declining) | shift-share analysis |
| Decomposes employment growth (or decline) in a region over a given time period into three components: (1) a national growth effect, (2) an industry mix effect, (3) a competitive effect. Sum of these three effects equals the actual change in total employme | shift-share analysis |
| examines historical trends in the regional economy, including recent changes in employment and business establishments, civilian labor force and unemployment rates, wages, labor force skill levels, and other related data. | Economic Base analysis |
| quantifies the multiple economic effects resulting from a change in the final demand for a specific product or service. | Input-Output Economic Analysis |
| Used to analyze the profitability of an investment or project. Sensitive to the reliability of future cash inflows that an investment or project will yield. | Net Present Value |
| Frequency distribution of one variable when another is held fixed at each of the several levels. | Regression |
| concerns a number of procedures concerned with comparing two averages. | T-test |
| Most comprehensive approach to project eval. Shows anticipated attainment of projects goal and assignment of accomplishing goal to a group. | Goals Achievement Matrix (GAM) |
| Focuses on single objective and projects effeictiveness with respect to that objective. When 2 or more projects achieve same level of service, comparision comes down to cost. | Cost Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) |
| Compares community gains from project to what community must forego in order to achieve. Project with higher ratio that 1 provides more benefits than costs. | Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) |
| Focuses on costs and revenues associated with specific form of growth. Resust is statement of net govt surplus or deficit expressed in financial terms. | Cost Revenue Anslysis (CRA) |
| Scheduling technique that graphically depicts inter-relationships of tasks that constitute project. | PERT -Program evaluation and review technique |
| Used to determine most critical steps to keep project going. | Critical Path Programming |
| Determines whether project will generate sufficient revenues to defray public service costs. | Fiscal Impact Analysis |
| Industries that draw money into economy from outside its borders. | Basic Industries |
| Industries serve the needs of local populance and businesses in localities borders. | Non-basic Industries |
| Ratio of employment in basic industries to non-basic industries that utilizes economic multipliers. Varies with size of community. Larger community, larger multiplier. | Export Ratio |
| Technique to monitor real pattern of money flows. Increase in production in one industry results in increases in other industries. Shows relationships among sectors of an economy. | Input-Output modeling |
| Two cities attract retail trade from any mid-sized town in direct proportion to population of 2 cities and in inverse proportion to the square of the distances from these 2 cities from the mid-sized town. | Retail Gravitational Law (by W.J. Reilly) |
