Deck 4: Test Scores and How to Use Them

Question 1

The standard deviation of scores for a sample of children is 16, and the arithmetic mean is 100. The distribution of scores is a normal distribution. This means that approximately 34% of the cases will have scores between

A) 92 and 108.
B) 84 and 116.
C) 84 and 100.
D) 100 and 132.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Of the following correlation coefficients, the one with the poorest predictive value is

A) 0.90.
B) 0.12.
C) -0.52.
D) -1.00.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

A primary indicator of level of acculturation is the

A) age of the child.
B) socioeconomic status of the family.
C) acculturation of other children in the child's school.
D) intelligence of the child.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The standard deviation, variance, and range are all measures of

A) central tendency.
B) partition values.
C) dispersion.
D) grouping.

Question 5

The finding that children living in areas of the country other than the Southeast typically score higher on achievement tests than children who live in the Southeast (excluding Florida) reflects the importance of __________ in developing representative norms.

A) intelligence
B) geography ​
C) acculturation
D) age

Question 6

The standard score that has a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10 is the

A) T-score.
B) z-score.
C) age equivalent.
D) ratio IQ.

Question 7

Of the following, the best example of an equal-interval scale is

A) height.
B) surnames.
C) ranks in military service.
D) temperature.

Question 8

Given the scores 26, 16, 6, 24, 32, 10, 16, 28, 26, and 16, the mean is

A) 12.0. ​
B) 16.3.
C) 20.0.
D) 22.6.

Question 9

Of the following, the best example of an ordinal scale is

A) height.
B) surnames.
C) ranks in military service.
D) temperature.

Question 10

Given the scores 26, 16, 6, 24, 32, 10, 16, 26, 28, and 16, the mode is

A) ​16.
B) ​20.
C) ​26.
D) ​28.

Question 11

Johnny, age six years, earns an age equivalent of 7-2 on an intelligence test. The appropriate statement to make based on this information is that

A) Johnny earned the same number of raw-score points as the average of children 7 years, 2 months of age.
B) Johnny has an IQ above 130.
C) Johnny is below the median of children 6-0.
D) Johnny thinks the way a 7-year-2-month-old thinks.

Question 12

Given the scores 26, 56, 38, 2, 30, 62, 8, 34, 54, and 10, the median is

A) ​44.
B) ​40.
C) ​32.
D) ​28.

Question 13

The mean age in months for preschool children was reported as 25.5. The standard deviation for Group 1 was 3.4 and for Group 2, 4.9. From this, we may conclude that

A) Group 1 is more variable than Group 2.
B) the mode for Group 1 is higher than that for Group 2.
C) Group 2 is more variable than Group 1.
D) the median age for Group 2 is higher than that for Group 1.

Question 14

Standard scores are considered to be

A) nominal.
B) ordinal.
C) ratio.
D) equal interval.

Question 15

The sixtieth percentile is the point in a distribution

A) at which a student has answered 60% of the questions correctly.
B) that marks the distance from the median that includes 60% of the class.
C) below which are 40% of the cases.
D) below which are 60% of the cases.

Question 16

In norm-referenced testing, the norm sample is used for

A) setting up goals for client achievement.
B) providing a basis for comparison.
C) establishing critical scores.
D) providing diagnostic information.

Question 17

When we talk about platykurtic curves and leptokurtic curves, we are talking about

A) normal curves.
B) polygrams.
C) kurtosis.
D) kurtic curves.

Question 18

For norms to be representative, they should include

A) individuals with relevant characteristics and experience.
B) equal numbers of various types of individuals.
C) all possible types of individuals who are in society.
D) comparison data for 50 years ago, as well as for today.

Question 19

When an age equivalent is going to be derived from a target score that is outside the available norm-group scores, the age equivalent for the target score is estimated through

A) standardization.
B) extrapolation.
C) translation to a percentage first.
D) interpolation.

Question 20

A z score is equal to a(n)

A) deviation IQ.
B) decile.
C) developmental level twice the number of the z-score.
D) standard deviation unit.

Question 21

A test was administered to Marcy to determine whether she had a hearing problem. For the norms to be adequate for this purpose, the norm sample should have included

A) Marcy's brothers and sisters.
B) children with hearing impairments.
C) at least 100 children in the same grade as Marcy.
D) children with mental handicaps.

Question 22

The kind of standard score that has a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10 is the __________. ​

Question 23

It is essential to test the full range of __________ ability in developing norms for intelligence tests.

Question 24

A developmental score that indicates a student's raw score in terms of the average performance of individuals of a certain age in the norm group is a(n) __________.

Question 25

The sample should include the various kinds of people in the __________ as in the population.

Question 26

Interpolation and extrapolation are ways to __________ a developmental score when the norm group did not include individuals of a certain age or grade.

Question 27

Range, variance, and standard deviation are common measures of __________.

Question 28

Stanines are standard score bands that divide a distribution into __________ parts.

Question 29

One factor that needs to be considered in determining the number of subjects to include in a norm sample is that the sample needs to be large enough to

A) calculate means and standard deviations.
B) increase the sizes of interpolations and extrapolations.
C) make it likely that infrequent elements in the population will be represented.
D) include at least 25 subjects at each grade and at each age.

Question 30

Bands of percentiles that are 25 percentile ranks in width are __________.

Question 31

The type of standard score that is interpreted as a standard deviation unit is the __________.

Question 32

The kind of standard score that divides the normal-curve distribution into 100 equal intervals is the __________.

Question 33

In a normal distribution, approximately __________ of the cases (or scores) occur between the mean and one standard deviation either above or below the mean.

Question 34

A correlation coefficient can range between __________ and __________.

Question 35

A scale with four values that correspond to "not satisfied," "satisfied," "somewhat satisfied," and "very satisfied" is a(n) __________ scale.

Question 36

The two most important measures of dispersion are the __________ and the __________.

Question 37

In a normal distribution, approximately __________ of the cases (or scores) occur between one standard deviation and two standard deviations either above or below the mean.

Question 38

Relationships between variables are quantified through __________.

Question 39

It is impossible to have a percentile of either __________ or __________; the fiftieth percentile rank is the median.

Question 40

If a test normed in 1990 was administered in 1992, the test norms would probably be considered to be

A) off by 2 years.
B) appropriate for another 18 years.
C) current.
D) irrelevant.

Question 41

Describe briefly (through mean, standard deviation, and any other special characteristic) the differences in the distributions of three types of standard scores.

Question 42

What are the advantages of using standard scores in the interpretation of test performance?

Question 43

Lisa's scores on tests for the assessment class are 93, 89, 87, and 83. She needs an 89.5 average to obtain an "A" in the class. Assuming that all tests, including the final, are equally weighted, what score must she obtain on the final exam to earn an "A"?

Question 44

Jacob's score on an achievement test is presented as an age equivalent of 7-3. What needs to be known before this score can be interpreted?

Question 45

The Granite School District examined the standardized achievement data for its students and found that the correlation between reading scores and math scores during the most recent year was -.99. They concluded that they had a nearly perfect correlation, indicating that if a student achieved a high score in reading, the same student would achieve a high score in math. Have they reached an appropriate conclusion? Why or why not?

Question 46

Discuss the relationship between the difficulty level of a test and the resulting distribution of scores.

Question 47

Professor McDevey has finally achieved his lifelong goal of developing McDevey's Reading Achievement Test. As a publisher, you are concerned with the fact that the professor normed his instrument on youngsters living in a university town. Why might a university town not be representative of the U.S. population at large? What factors will you consider while critically evaluating this instrument?

Question 48

__________ hinges on whether the norm sample contains individuals with relevant characteristics and experiences and whether those characteristics and experiences are present in the sample in the same proportion as in the population of reference.

Question 49

Mr. Hamilton made a list of the highest to lowest scorers on his latest test. The list is as follows: Gary, Suzanne, Roberta, Victor, Elliot, Kris, Mark, Gail, and Bradley. What kind of scale is being used, and what can we say about class performance from this scale?

Question 50

What are some reasons for using percentile ranks instead of standard scores to summarize data?