Multiple Choice/True & False Section
Please highlight your choice for the multiple choice/ true & false sections in the document itself, using BOLD highlight.
1) A team of investigators collects data on the number of students who are on scholarship at various local colleges. If the team then makes a frequency table to summarize the data, they are using a(n)
a) measure of central tendency.
b) descriptive statistical method.
c) intuitive statistical method.
d) inferential statistical method.
2) The two main branches of statistical methods are:
a. theoretical inferential.
b. intuitive and observational.
c. practical and inferential.
d. descriptive and inferential.
e. descriptive and observational.
3) At the lowest level of measurement, called _____, we can classify things.
a. rank-order
b. equal-interval
c. nominal
d. ratio
e. category
4) Age is usually measured at the _____ level.
a. equal-interval
b. nominal
c. qualitative
d. category
e. rank-order
5) Numeric variables are also called _____ variables.
a. nominal
b. qualitative
c. quantitative
d. irrelevant
e. definite
6) A researcher measures the eye movements of 100 participants as they read ambiguous words embedded within sentences. Because eye movements are measured in milliseconds, and there are likely to be many different times measured, the researcher is most likely to use a _____ to help make sense of the data.
a) scatter plot
b) frequency polygon
c) grouped frequency table
d) pie chart
e) horizontal bar chart
7) A frequency table lists:
a. the times per second that variations occur in various wave bounds.
b. the number of scores at each value.
c. the intensity of a variable over all the participants studied.
d. the average and median values of each variable.
e. all of the above.
8) When working with a nominal variable, the histogram is called a(n):
a. bar graph.
b. frequency polygon.
c. area plot.
d. bubble plot.
e. scatter plot.
9) A researcher rates participants’ empathic responses to the distress of strangers on a scale of 1 to 10. Most participants were rated as either a 3 or 7. How would this distribution be described?
a) unimodal
b) bimodal
c) rectangular
d) normal
e) curvilinear
10) On the first exam in an introductory statistics class most students did very well and only a few did poorly. How would you describe the distribution of test scores?
a. symmetrical
b. skewed to the left
c. having a floor effect
d. skewed to the right
e. bell-shaped
11) When a distribution is heavy-tailed it means that:
a. it is skewed to the right.
b. it is skewed to the left.
c. it has a pinched appearance with few scores at the extremes (tails).
d. there is a ceiling effect.
e. it has a flat appearance with many scores at the extremes (tails).
12) The most frequent or most common value in a distribution is the _____.
a. mean
b. mode
c. median
d. standard deviation
e. variance
13) If a distribution is positively skewed, the mean is expected to be higher than the median.
a. true
b. false
14) The standard deviation of a distribution is expressed in the same units as the original values.
a. true
b. false
15) All of following are important features of the standard deviation EXCEPT:
a) it gives us the average amount by which observations deviate on either side of the mean.
b) It can be a positive or negative score.
c) The greater the variability around the mean, the larger the standard deviation.
d) It is more meaningful than the variance.
e) It is expressed in the same units as the original values.
16) Based on the following scores 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10, a score of 8 is the:
a. mean
b. median
c. mode
d. standard deviation
e. variance
17) Five people’s scores on a survey of product recognition are 17, 12, 20, 13, 8. What is their mean score?
1. 12
2. 13
3. 14
4. 10
5. 12.5
18) The middle value in a set of scores lined up from lowest to highest is the:
a) mean
b) mode
c) average
d) median
e) Z score
19) The variance of a group of scores is the same as the:
a. average of the squared deviations from the mean.
b. sum of the squared deviations from the mean.
c. average of the absolute deviations from the mean.
d. sum of the absolute deviations from the median.
e. square root of the standard deviation.
20) The standard deviation is defined as the:
a) positive square root of the variance.
b) positive square root of the range.
c) negative square root of the variance.
d) positive square root of the mean.
e) positive or negative square root of the median.
21) What is the variance of these four scores: 0, 1, 1, 2?
a. .25
b. .5
c. .86
d. 1
e. 0
22) Donald’s Z score on the statistics test was +1.25. This means that:
a. his raw score is slightly below the average.
b. his raw score is just at the average.
c. his raw score a little less than one standard deviation below the mean.
d. if you add 1.25 to the mean, you can obtain his raw score.
e. his raw score is more than one standard deviation above the mean.
23) A person’s raw score is 7, the mean is 13, and the standard deviation is 3. What is the person’s Z score?
a. -2
b. -1
c. 0
d. 1
e. 2
24) For a particular group of scores, M = 20, and SD = 5. What is the Z score for a raw score of 10?
1. 2
2. 0
3. -2
4. 1
5. -1
25) A graph that shows the pattern of the relation of two variables is a:
a. histogram.
b. scatter diagram.
c. frequency polygon.
d. box plot.
e. bar chart.
26) For a positive linear correlation that is not perfect, the average of the cross-products of Z scores is between:
a. -1 and 0.
b. 0 and .5.
c. -.5 and .5.
d. 0 and 1.
e. 1 and 2.
27) You conduct a study in which you measure two variables and find a correlation of -.17, generally speaking this means:
a. as values on one variable go up, values on the other variable go down.
b. values on one variable go up slightly as values on the other variable also go up.
c. values on one variable go down slightly as values on the other variable also go down.
d. there is no relationship between the two variables.
e. one variable is causing the values of the other variable to go down.
28) Suppose you want to be able to predict college grades from information about high school grades. In this case, the college grades would be called the:
a. predictor variable.
b. criterion variable.
c. independent variable.
d. causal variable.
e. regression coefficient.
29) The correlation coefficient squared is also called the:
1. determinant of regression.
2. estimated error of correlation.
3. multiple regression constant.
4. standardized regression coefficient.
5. proportion of variance accounted for.
30) The normal distribution:
a. is symmetrical.
b. has the same mean, median, and mode.
c. is a theoretical ideal.
d. is a curve that tails off gradually on both ends from the mean.
e. all of the above.
31) In a normal curve, there will always be _____ of the scores associated with the area that is one standard deviation above and below the mean.
a. 2%
b. 14%
c. 34%
d. 48%
e. 96%
32) The mean score on a political attitude scale is 5 and the standard deviation is 2. The distribution is normal. Using the percentage approximations for the normal curve, how many people would get a score between 5 and 9?
a) 14%
b) 34%
c) 14% + 34% = 48%
d) 50%
e) 34% + 34% = 68%
The following 2 questions require the use of this normal curve table excerpt provided below:
Z % Mean to Z % in Tail
.20 7.93 42.07
.54 20.54 29.46
.84 29.95 20.05
1.30 40.32 9.68
1.50 43.32 6.68
1.64 44.95 5.05
1.75 45.99 4.01
1.88 46.99 3.01
33) A person received a test score that is in the top 20% of everyone who has taken the test. The test scores are normally distributed. This person’s Z score must be at least:
a. .20
b. .42
c. .54
d. .84
e. 1.30
34) A person received a score of 4.78 on a test. This turned out to be a Z score of +1.5. What percentage of scores is above 4.78? Assume a normal distribution.
a) 43.32% -50% = - 6.68%
b) 50% - 43.32% = 6.68%
c) 100% - 43.32% = 56.68%
d) 50% + 43.32% = 83.32%
e) 1.5 in the second column = 43.43%
35) Jake’s Z score for running ability is .60. What is Jake’s raw score (assuming M = 100 and SD = 7).
1. 100.1
2. 104.2
3. 93.5
4. 103.2
5. 89.5
36) You randomly select someone from a group of 12. Two of those people were born in Ontario. What is the change you will pick a person born in Ontario?
a. 1/12 = .08
b. 2/12 = .17
c. 12/2 = 6
d. 12 x 2 = 24
e. 1/12 x 1/12 = .04
37) In figuring probabilities, expected relative frequency is:
a. how many times something happens.
b. the probability for the result of an experiment.
c. The number of successful outcomes divided by the total number of outcomes expected if you repeated an experiment a large number of times.
d. The number of unsuccessful outcomes multiplied by the number of successful outcomes expected if you repeat an experiment a large number of times.
e. the proportion of successful outcomes to all outcomes.
38) A results section that includes correlation coefficients would include all of the following information EXCEPT
a) the value of r.
b) the significance level.
c) the Z scores.
d) a correlation matrix.
39) You have an aquarium full of tropical salt-water fish and you need to know the exact salt content of the water. To test it, you take a cup and scoop some of the water out. In statistical language, the scoop of water is a _____.
a. population
b. parameter
c. population distribution
d. probability
e. sample
40) If the true pattern of association between variables is curvilinear, figuring the correlation in the usual way could show little or no correlation.
a) true
b) false
41) In a scatter diagram, the predictor variable goes on the horizontal axis.
a. true
b. false
42) A deviation score is the difference between the score and the mean.
a. true
b. false
43) Frequency tables can be used for numerical but not nominal variables.
a. true
b. false
44) In a perfect linear correlation, the dots in a scatter diagram all fall __________.
45) Social scientists who want to summarize and make understandable a group of numbers collected in a research study would use ______________ statistics.
46) In a study of hospitalized psychiatric patients, nurses rate the patients’ ability to take care of their rooms on a scale of 0 to 7. Therefore, ability to take care of one’s room is a _________.
47) Today, survey sampling uses complex methods in order to ensure a close approximation to true __________ sampling.
48) If the correlation coefficient is .45, what is the proportion of variance accounted for?
49) What is the standard deviation of scores of 2, 4, 3, 7?
50) A scatter diagram in which the dots form a kind of upside-down “U” shape is an example of a(n) __________ correlation
