Deck 17: Appendix B: Statistical Methods

Question 1

What occurs when the distribution of scores in a group of scores is symmetrical?

A)The mean, median, and mode are relatively close together in value.
B)Only the mean and mode are relatively close together in value.
C)The mean, median, and mode are relatively far apart in value.
D)Only the median and mode are relatively close together in value.

Answer 1

The mean, median, and mode are relatively close together in value.

Question 2

Which statement best describes a skewed distribution?

A)Many scores in the distribution are low.
B)Many scores in the distribution are high.
C)The distribution is not symmetrical or balanced.
D)The distribution is symmetrical or balanced.

Answer 2

The distribution is not symmetrical or balanced.

Question 3

What is a histogram?

A)a graph in which paired scores for each subject are plotted as single points
B)a bar graph that presents data from a frequency distribution
C)a line figure that presents data from a frequency distribution
D)a graph that represents a symmetrical or bell-shaped curve

Answer 3

a bar graph that presents data from a frequency distribution

Question 4

Histograms and frequency polygons typically list possible scores on the horizontal axis. What information is recorded on the vertical axis?

A)standard deviation of scores
B)category of scores
C)frequency of scores
D)mean of scores

Question 5

When your professor gives back an exam, the professor tells the class that the mean score was an 81. You received an 88. If you would like more information to be able to compare your grade to the grades of your classmates, which statistic would be most useful?

A)standard deviation
B)mode
C)median
D)percentile of the mean score

Question 6

What is the mode of the following set of scores: 1, 2, 5, 6, 6?

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

Question 7

What is the term used to describe a distribution of scores that is not symmetrical and many scores pile up at the low end of the scale?

A)normal distribution
B)negatively skewed distribution
C)positively skewed distribution
D)significant distribution

Question 8

How is the median determined?

A)Add up all the scores and divide by the number of scores.
B)Arrange the scores in increasing order and find the middle score.
C)Divide the middle score by the number of scores.
D)Find the most frequently occurring score.

Question 9

What is the term for a table that uses an organized arrangement to indicate how often each score or group of scores occurs in a set of data?

A)histogram
B)frequency distribution
C)frequency polygon
D)boxplot

Question 10

What is a frequency polygon?

A)a line figure that presents data from a frequency distribution
B)a graph that represents a symmetrical or bell-shaped curve
C)a graph in which paired scores for each subject are plotted as single points
D)a bar graph that presents data from a frequency distribution

Question 11

Which of the following pairs includes techniques used to graphically represent the frequency of scores in a set of data?

A)frequency distributions and frequency polygons
B)frequency distributions and scatter diagrams
C)histograms and scatter diagrams
D)histograms and frequency polygons

Question 12

When a distribution of scores includes a few extreme scores (either extremely high or extremely low) which measure of central tendency is considered to be most accurate?

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

Question 13

Dr. Patel has two sections of the same course and gives an exam. Both classes have the same mean score on the exam. However, in Class A most students scored relatively close to the mean, while in Class B many students scored either much higher or much lower than the mean. Which statement best describes the distribution of grades for the two classes?

A)Not enough information is provided to draw any conclusion regarding the standard deviation.
B)The standard deviation will be smaller for Class A than for Class B.
C)The standard deviation will be the same for the two classes.
D)The standard deviation will be larger for Class A than for Class B.

Question 14

Which statistic tells you how much variability exists in a distribution of scores?

A)standard deviation
B)central tendency
C)frequency distribution
D)correlation coefficient

Question 15

One use of statistics is to organize and summarize data. Which statistics are used for this purpose?

A)descriptive statistics
B)inferential statistics
C)normal statistics
D)correlational statistics

Question 16

If you add all the scores in a group of scores together and divide by the number of scores, what is the result?

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

Question 17

Many human characteristics are dispersed in the population in a manner that is represented by a symmetrical or bell-shaped curve. What is the name for this type of distribution?

A)normal
B)skewed
C)significant
D)common

Question 18

Which statistical concept refers to how much the scores in a distribution tend to differ from the mean?

A)variability
B)correlation
C)dispersion
D)central tendency

Question 19

What is NOT one of the uses of statistics?

A)to collect numerical data
B)to interpret numerical data
C)to summarize numerical data
D)to organize numerical data

Question 20

When a trait is normally distributed, where would you find most of the scores?

A)at the bottom of the distribution
B)at the top of the distribution
C)near the centre of the distribution
D)scattered uniformly across the distribution

Question 21

The relationship between variable X and variable Y is such that high scores on variable X are generally associated with low scores on variable Y and low scores on variable X are generally associated with high scores on variable Y. What would be found if the correlation coefficient is calculated?

A)a positive correlation
B)a negative correlation
C)a weak correlation
D)a strong correlation

Question 22

When a trait has a normal distribution, which statistic is used to assess where any score falls in the distribution?

A)variability
B)correlation coefficient
C)mean
D)standard deviation

Question 23

SAT scores are normally distributed and have a mean of 500 and a standard deviation of 100. Which range of scores would include approximately 34 percent of all scores?

A)300-400
B)400-600
C)450-550
D)500-600

Question 24

Variable X and variable Y have a correlation coefficient of +.70. How much of the variation of variable Y scores can be accounted for by variable X?

A)14 percent
B)30 percent
C)49 percent
D)70 percent

Question 25

What represents the percentage of variation in one variable that can be predicted based on a second variable?

A)correlation coefficient
B)coefficient of determination
C)coefficient of variability
D)correlation deviation

Question 26

What does it mean if the results of a research study are found to have statistical significance?

A)The probability that the observed findings are due to chance is very low.
B)The probability that the observed findings are due to chance is very high.
C)The results of the research study do not have practical applications.
D)The results of the research study have practical applications.

Question 27

Which statistics are used to interpret data and draw conclusions?

A)simple
B)inferential
C)descriptive
D)sophisticated

Question 28

When evaluating a research study, what do the statistical techniques used allow the researcher to do?

A)accept the research hypothesis
B)reject the null hypothesis
C)reject the research hypothesis
D)accept the null hypothesis

Question 29

When a trait has a normal distribution, approximately what percentage of scores falls within plus or minus one standard deviation from the mean?

A)34 percent
B)40 percent
C)50 percent
D)68 percent

Question 30

Which correlation coefficient represents the strongest relationship between two variables?

A)-.66
B)0.00
C)+.49
D)+1.15

Question 31

What is a correlation coefficient?

A)a numerical index of the degree of relationship that exists between two variables
B)a numerical index of the amount of variability in a set of data
C)an orderly arrangement of data indicating the frequency of each score
D)a numerical index that indicates the percentage of individuals who score at or below a specific score

Question 32

What indicates the direction of a correlation?

A)a positive or negative sign
B)the magnitude of the correlation coefficient
C)the standard deviation of the correlation coefficient
D)the number of decimal places

Question 33

In gym class, everyone was tested to determine how many sit-ups they could do in one minute. Ming's performance was at the 61st percentile. Which of the following is true?

A)Ming did fewer sit-ups than 61 percent of the students in the class.
B)Ming did 61 sit-ups.
C)Ming was one standard deviation above the mean.
D)Ming did more sit-ups than 61 percent of the students in the class.

Question 34

What is a scatter diagram?

A)a graph that represents a symmetrical or bell-shaped curve
B)a line figure that presents data from a frequency distribution
C)a bar graph that presents data from a frequency distribution
D)a graph in which paired scores are plotted as single points

Question 35

What is the term for the assumption that there is no true relationship between two variables?

A)default hypothesis
B)null hypothesis
C)predictive hypothesis
D)research hypothesis

Question 36

The relationship between variable X and variable Y is such that high scores on variable X are generally associated with high scores on variable Y and low scores on variable X are generally associated with low scores on variable Y. What would be found if the correlation coefficient is calculated?

A)a strong correlation
B)a positive correlation
C)a weak correlation
D)a negative correlation

Question 37

Which correlation coefficient would be illustrated by a scatter diagram with points scattered farthest from the straight line?

A)-.77
B)-.44
C)+.22
D)+.66

Question 38

Which statistic indicates the percentage of individuals who score at or below a given score?

A)percentile
B)median
C)standard deviation
D)frequency

Question 39

The minimum requirement for statistical significance is that the probability of the obtained results occurring by chance is less than a certain proportion. What is that proportion?

A)1 chance in 10
B)2 chances in 10
C)1 chance in 100
D)5 chances in 100

Question 40

What term is used for statistics for the interpretation of data and drawing conclusions?

A)descriptive
B)correlational
C)inferential
D)sophisticated