degree of freedom
1
6.7
- noun
- /dɪˈɡriː əv ˈfriːdəm/
- Specialized
:
grado de libertad
- The chi-square value for the measurement model was 135.1 with 60 degrees of freedom and probability < .001.
- degrees of freedom, p
- degrees of freedom (df)
- chi-square degrees of freedom
Examples
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When Mauchly's test indicated a violation of the assumption of sphericity, degrees of freedom were adjusted using the Greenhouse-Geisser correction.
Academic text (2018) -
First, teachers might consider ways to reduce degrees of freedom when students are completing a task.
Academic text (2012) -
And so we only have two degrees of freedom for that component.
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There are many ways teachers reduce degrees of freedom for students, especially in writing instruction.
Academic text (2012) -
As a result, we use the conservative lower bound to adjust degrees of freedom.
Academic text (2015) -
The critical value for F was 2.6281 with 284 degrees of freedom.
Academic text (1997) -
For all chi-square analyses, degrees of freedom were 3, and n = 48.
Academic text (1997) -
A t of 2.77, with 198 degrees of freedom, is significant at p < .01.
Academic text (1996) -
The acceptable values of chi-square divided by degrees of freedom range from 3 to 1 (Bollen, 1989).
Academic text (2001) -
In statistical analysis, having a high degree of freedom allows for more accurate results.
Surface Forms
Morphology
A learner who knows 'degree' (amount/extent) and 'freedom' (ability to act) can infer a general sense of 'amount of freedom', but the precise statistical meaning — the number of independent values that can vary — is technical and not derivable from the constituents alone. The phrase is therefore partially compositional but requires domain knowledge to reach its full meaning.
Etymology
The phrase degree of freedom in statistics uses the same image: each independent choice or value that can change is a degree of freedom. For example, if three numbers must add to ten you can choose two freely and the third is fixed, so there are two degrees of freedom, which is why it means 'how many values are free to change'.