After calculating the deviation scores, why do we square them ...

[littleanan]

After calculating the deviation scores, why do we square them before adding them? We do this because _____.
 
  a. the book says to do it because it's a convention
  b. we need to be able to show the results on a graph
  c. it's the way we correct for sampling error
  d. the deviations sum to zero if we don't square them

Question 2

Subtracting a raw score from the mean yields a score known as a _____.
 
  a. cooked score c. sampling error
  b. deviation score d. standard error

[pikon]

Answer to Question 1

D
The unsquared deviations sum to zero. If we want to get the average, we need to add the scores, but if they sum to zero, we can't divide them by the number of scores that were added. Therefore, we square the scores before adding them.

Answer to Question 2

B
A deviation score indicates how far from the mean a score lies.

[littleanan]

Thanks for the timely response, appreciate it

[amcvicar]

Wow, this really help