Deck 14: Analyzing Quantitative Data

Question 1

A researcher reviews a distribution of a variable and notes that the cases in the distribution cluster to the left and the right tail of the distribution is longer than the left tail. This is an example of ______.

A) positively skewed
B) negatively skewed
C) neutrally skewed
D) mode

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT a required task when using secondary data?

A) data cleaning
B) data coding
C) data analysis
D) frequency distributions for individual variables

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following is an example of a bimodal distribution?

A) 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10
B) 1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
C) 1, 1, 1, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7
D) 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7

Answer 3

C

Question 4

An advocate of tough-on-crime measures is interested in showing the rise in crime rates. He wants to present a graph in which the rise in crime is exaggerated. To do so, he should do which of the following?

A) shorten the horizontal axis
B) lengthen the vertical axis
C) create bars of equal width
D) eliminate cross-hatching

Question 5

A ______ is a preferred graphic for qualitative measures and a ______ is a preferred graphic for quantitative measures.

A) histogram; bar chart
B) bar chart; histogram
C) bar chart; bar chart
D) histogram; histogram

Question 6

The values to be displayed in a frequency distribution should be grouped ______.

A) when there are more than 100 values
B) when there are more than 50 values
C) when there are more than 20 values
D) when there are more than 10 values

Question 7

The following questions refer to the two tables below describing the hypothetical distribution of daily criminal activity in two cities.
Distribution #1Distribution #2# of crimesPercent# of crimesPercent0-881-2.589-11122-3.51212403-4.54013-15284-5.52816105-6.51017 or more26-7.52
-What guideline for combining values in a frequency distribution was violated in Distribution #1?

A) mutually exclusive categories
B) exhaustive categories
C) categories of equal width
D) category width equals a whole number

Question 8

The following questions refer to the two tables below describing the hypothetical distribution of daily criminal activity in two cities.
Distribution #1Distribution #2# of crimesPercent# of crimesPercent0-881-2.589-11122-3.51212403-4.54013-15284-5.52816105-6.51017 or more26-7.52
-What guideline for combining values in a frequency distribution was violated in Distribution #2?

A) mutually exclusive categories
B) exhaustive categories
C) categories of equal width
D) mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories

Question 9

A researcher reports that there was no case in a distribution that was more common than the others. This pertains to which method of central tendency?

A) mode
B) median
C) mean
D) deviation

Question 10

A variable's rank order is: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 9. What is the median position?

A) 2
B) 4
C) 5
D) 6

Question 11

Seven drug treatment programs are surveyed. The current number of clients in each detention center is 17, 13, 9, 25, 15, 2, and 95. What is the median number of inmates?

A) 13
B) 17
C) 25
D) 91

Question 12

Which of the following statements about the mean is false?

A) The mean and the median sometimes have the same value.
B) All the cases are used when calculating the mean.
C) The mean is not affected by extreme values.
D) The mean is used for variables measured at the ratio level.

Question 13

You enter a prison that has many inmates of varying ages. You must interview one inmate for a research project. This inmate should be just in the middle of the age distribution of inmates-that is, an inmate who is younger than half the other inmates and older than the other half. Which statistic should you use?

A) standard deviation
B) mean
C) median
D) mode

Question 14

Which of the following is an inferential statistic?

A) gamma
B) chi-square
C) mean
D) mode

Question 15

A marketing firm is hired to promote two drug rehabilitation centers. The goal of the marketing firm is to attract more business to these two centers. The firm decides to do so by emphasizing the experience of the counselors. In center A, most counselors have 8 or more years of experience, but a few have about 6. Most counselors in center B have 5 to 6 years' experience, but a few have 9 or more. Which statistics should be used to maximize the appeal of each center?

A) mean for center A, median for center B
B) mode for both centers
C) mode for center A, mean for center B
D) mean for both centers

Question 16

What will be the relation between the values of the median and mean in a negatively skewed distribution?

A) The mean will be lower than the median.
B) The mean and the median will be equal.
C) The mean will be higher than the median.
D) There will be no relation between the values of the median and the mean.

Question 17

A correlation coefficient is zero. This means which of the following?

A) There is no linear relationship between the two variables.
B) There is a positive linear relationship between the two variables.
C) There is a negative linear relationship between the two variables.
D) The relationship between the variables is statistically nonsignificant.

Question 18

What is the interquartile range in the following array of ages: 28, 37, 29, 30, 20, 40, 25, 26, 26, 35, 37, 40?

A) 3
B) 5
C) 11
D) 12

Question 19

What is the variance for the following array of children's ages:1, 1, 2, 2, 4?

A) 0.8
B) 1.1
C) 1.2
D) 2.0

Question 20

When inspecting a cross-tabulation table, a researcher notices that there is no variation in the categories of the independent variable. Which aspect of association is this?

A) strength
B) existence
C) direction
D) pattern

Question 21

The following questions refer to the table below describing the association between education level and drug use:
Education Level Drug UseLowHighTotalYes210190400No290310600Total5005001,000
-What is the term for the numbers 400 and 600?

A) Base Ns for columns
B) row marginals
C) relative frequencies
D) cell counts

Question 22

The following questions refer to the table below describing the association between education level and drug use:
Education Level Drug UseLowHighTotalYes210190400No290310600Total5005001,000
-290 is an example of ______.

A) Base Ns for columns
B) row marginals
C) relative frequencies
D) cell counts

Question 23

How many persons with high education use drugs?

A) 120
B) 190
C) 310
D) 400

Question 24

What percentage of persons are drug users?

A) 38%
B) 40%
C) 42%
D) 60%

Question 25

What percentage of persons with low education do NOT use drugs?

A) 29%
B) 42%
C) 48%
D) 58%

Question 26

In one model, the researcher wants to examine the effect that education has on drug use. To determine if the independent variable (education) has any effect on the dependent variable (drug use), the researcher should calculate ______.

A) column percentages
B) row percentages
C) relative frequencies
D) cell counts

Question 27

In another model, the researcher wants to examine the effect that drug use has on education. To determine if the independent variable (drug use) has any effect on the dependent variable (education), the researcher should calculate ______.

A) Base Ns for columns
B) row percentages
C) relative frequencies
D) column percentages

Question 28

A variable's rank order is: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10. What is the median position?

A) 4
B) 5.5
C) 7.5
D) 10

Question 29

When study results indicate that a prior hypothesis must be rejected, some researchers will explore the data to see if unanticipated relationships might make for more interesting results. In principle this is not a good idea because ______.

A) it takes too much time and energy to dredge the data, and this costs a lot of money
B) it is unlikely to uncover evidence in support of the rejected hypothesis
C) unanticipated results might be based on chance alone
D) the data must obviously be flawed if it cannot support the hypothesis

Question 30

Using this set of numbers, 2, 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 18, 21, 33, calculate the mean.

A) 2
B) 4
C) 9
D) 12

Question 31

Using this set of numbers, 2, 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 18, 21, 33, calculate the median.

A) 2
B) 11.5
C) 10
D) 14.5

Question 32

Using this set of numbers, 2, 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 18, 21, 33, what is the mode?

A) 2
B) 9
C) 14
D) 31

Question 33

Using this set of numbers, 2, 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 18, 21, 33, calculate the range.

A) 2
B) 19
C) 31
D) 33

Question 34

Using this set of numbers, 2, 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 18, 21, 33, calculate the variance.

A) 9.3
B) 31.0
C) 66.3
D) 87.2

Question 35

Using this set of numbers, 2, 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 18, 21, 33, in the distribution, the value of 33 is ______.

A) the standard deviation
B) an outlier
C) another mode
D) the Base N

Question 36

Which of the following is a primary feature of the shape of a distribution?

A) central tendency
B) variability
C) skewness
D) all of these

Question 37

Which of the following graphs is most appropriate for displaying the distribution of variables measured at the nominal level and other discrete categorical variables?

A) bar chart
B) histogram
C) line graph
D) none of these

Question 38

Which of the following graphs is most appropriate for displaying quantitative variables that vary along a continuum?

A) bar chart
B) histogram
C) line graph
D) none of these

Question 39

Which of the following is useful to display the frequency distribution of a variable when you have too many values to easily comprehend or display?

A) pie chart
B) scatterplot
C) grouped frequency distribution
D) none of these

Question 40

Which of the following represents a guideline for combining values in a frequency distribution?

A) Categories should be logically defensible.
B) Categories should be mutually exclusive and exhaustive.
C) The first interval must contain the lowest value.
D) all of these

Question 41

Data cleaning is only necessary when you did not collect the data.

Question 42

When grouping variables, intervals should be exhaustive and mutually exclusive.

Question 43

Skewness is an appropriate measure when describing a nominal variable.

Question 44

The median is an inappropriate statistic for variables measured at the nominal level.

Question 45

The interquartile range measures the difference between the first and fourth quartiles in a distribution.

Question 46

In a monotonic relationship, the value of cases consistently increases on one variable as the value of cases increases on the other variable.

Question 47

If the value of gamma is +1, then the variables are perfectly associated with each other.

Question 48

Specification is when the original relationship is stronger under some condition(s) of a third variable and weaker under others.

Question 49

The highest value in a distribution minus the lowest value in the distribution will provide the central tendency.

Question 50

Standard deviation is the preferred measure of variation.

Question 51

Descriptive statistics estimate the degree of confidence that can be placed in generalizations for a sample and for the population from which the sample was selected.

Question 52

A researcher reviews a distribution of a variable and notes that in the distribution the cases cluster to the right and the left tail of the distribution is longer than the right tail. This distribution is negatively skewed.

Question 53

The Base N in a frequency distribution refers to the total number of cases.

Question 54

In order to calculate measures of variation, the data must be at the ordinal or ratio level.

Question 55

A researcher finds that as age increases, the number of crimes committed decreases. The relationship between the two variables would be classified as positive.

Question 56

Measures of central tendency include the mode, median, and the variance.

Question 57

Measures of dispersion include the range, variance, and the standard deviation.

Question 58

The range is the most mathematically complicated measure of dispersion.

Question 59

The interquartile range avoids the problem created by unusually high or low scores in a distribution.

Question 60

Quartiles split a variable's distribution into three equal groups of cases.

Question 61

What type of distribution has data that is clustered on the right side.

Question 62

Identify a circumstance in which the mean would be least appropriate to use when summarizing the central tendency of variables?

Question 63

Discuss an advantage of the range as a measure of variability.

Question 64

What does Pearson's r refer to?

Question 65

Consider the negative relationship between employment and crime. Name one other variable that might intervene in this relationship.

Question 66

When type of cases have the most influence on a variable's mean?

Question 67

Describe how inferential statistics are used by researchers.

Question 68

Describe group-frequency distribution.

Question 69

Provide an example of a relationship that can be examined in a regression analysis.

Question 70

What ethical principles should researchers keep in mind when analyzing the relationship between variables?

Question 71

List the five steps to create a grouped frequency distribution.

Question 72

List and define the three measures of central tendency.

Question 73

Describe what it means for a variable's distribution to be normally distributed.

Question 74

List the four aspects of the association between two variables that are revealed in a cross-tabulation and the questions that each aspect seeks to answer.

Question 75

Describe the purpose of performing an elaboration analysis and provide an example.