Chapter 1 – Everything you wanted to know about Statistics

TESTBANK MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

 

 

 

Chapter 1 – Everything you wanted to know about Statistics

 

 

1.           The standard deviation is the square root of

a.           the coefficient of determination

b.           sum of squares

c.           variance

d.           range

 

2.           A frequency distribution in which low scores are most frequent (i.e. bars on the graph are highest on the left hand side) is said to be:

a.           Positively skewed

b.           Leptokurtic

c.           Platykurtic

d.           Negatively skewed

 

3.           If the scores on a test have a mean of 26 and a standard deviation of 4, what is the z- score for a score of 18?

a. –2

b.           11

c.           2

d. –1.41

 

4.           Which of the following is true about a 95% confidence interval of the mean of a given sample:

a.           95 out of 100 sample means will fall within the limits of the confidence interval.

b.           There is a 95% chance that the population mean will fall within the limits of the confidence interval.

c.           95 out of 100 population means will fall within the limits of the confidence interval.

 

d.           There is a 0.05 probability that the population mean falls within the limits of the confidence interval.

 

5.           What does a significant test statistic tell us?

a.           There is an important effect.

b.           The hull hypothesis is false.

c.           There is an effect in the population of sufficient magnitude to be scientifically interesting.

d.           All of the above.

 

6.           A type I error is when

a.           We conclude that there is a meaningful effect in the population when in fact there is not.

b.           We conclude that there is not a meaningful effect in the population when in fact there is.

c.           We conclude that the test statistic is significant when in fact it is not.

d.           The data we have typed into SPSS is different to the data collected.

 

7.           If we calculated an effect size and found it was r = .42 which expression would best describe the size of effect.

a.           small

b.           small-to-medium

c.           large

d.           medium-to-large

 

8.           Which of these statements about statistical power is not true:

a.           Power is the ability of a test to detect an effect.

b.           We can use power to determine how big a sample is required to detect an effect of a certain size.

c.           Power is linked to the probability of making a type I error.

d.           All of the above are true.

 

9.           What is a significance level?

 

a.           The level at which statistics finally become meaningful to a stein

 

b.           The impact that reporting statistics incorrectly could have

 

c.           A pre-set level of probability that the results are correct

 

d.           A pre-set level of probability at which it will be accepted that results are due to chance or not.  

 

 

 

10.         What is the conventional level of probability that is often accepted when conducting statistical tests?

 

a. 0.1

b. 0.05  

c. 0.5

d. 0.001

 

11.         A null hypothesis:

 

a.           states that the experimental treatment will have an effect

b.           is rarely used in experiments

c.           predicts that the experimental treatment will have no effect  

d.           none of the above

 

12.         Which of the following terms best describes the sentence: ‘In a blind-tasting, people will not be able to tell the difference between margarine and butter’

 

a.           a directional hypothesis

b.           an operational definition

c.           a null hypothesis

d.           a non-directional hypothesis  

 

13.         The aim of experimental research is to:

 

a.           be a phenomenon

b.           cause a phenomenon

c.           investigate what caused a phenomenon  

d.           to prevent a phenomenon

 

14.         ‘Sleep derivation will reduce the ability to perform a complex cognitive task’. State the direction of this hypothesis:

 

a.           Directional  

b.           Non-Directional

c.           Both

d.           Not enough information given

 

 

 

15.         In experiments the independent variable is manipulated to determine:

 

a.           effects on the individual participants

b.           effect on the dependent variable  

c.           effects of certain stimuli

d.           relation to other variables

 

Chapter 2 – The SPSS Environment

 

 

1.           Which of the following could not be represented by columns in the SPSS Data editor:

a.           Levels of repeated measures variables

b.           Items on a questionnaire

c.           Levels of between-group variables

d.           Total values from different questionnaires.

 

2.           Ordinal level data are characterised by:

a.           data that can be meaningfully arranged by order of magnitude

b.           equal intervals between each adjacent score

c.           a fixed zero

d.           none of the above

 

3.           What is the advantage of using SPSS over calculating statistics by hand?

 

a.           Quantitative data analysis is so complex today it is essential to use a stats package

b.           It reduces the chance of making errors in your calculations

c.           It equips you with a useful transferable skill

d.           All of the above  

 

4.           In SPSS, what is the 'Data Viewer'?

 

a.           A table summarising the frequencies of data for one variable

b.           A spreadsheet into which data can be entered  

c.           A dialog box that allows you to choose a statistical test

d.           A screen in which variables can be defined and labelled

 

5.           How is a variable name different from a variable label?

 

a.           It is shorter and less detailed

b.           It is longer and more detailed

c.           It is abstract and unspecific

d.           It refers to codes rather than variables  

 

6.           What does the operation 'Recode Into Different Variables' do to the data?

 

a.           Replaces missing data with some random scores

b.           Reverses the position of the independent and dependent variable on a graph

c.           Redistributes a range of values into a new set of categories and creates a new variable  

d.           Represents the data in the form of a pie chart

 

7.           How would you use the drop-down menus in SPSS to generate a frequency table?

 

a.           Open the Output Viewer and click: Save As → Pie Chart

b.           Click on: Analyze → Descriptive Statistics → Frequencies  

c.           Click on: Graphs → Frequencies → Pearson

d.           Open the Variable Viewer and recode the value labels

 

8.           When crosstabulating two variables, it is conventional to:

 

a.           represent the independent variable in rows and the dependent variable in columns.  

b.           assign both the dependent and independent variables to columns.

c.           represent the dependent variable in rows and the independent variable in columns.

d.           assign both the dependent and independent variables to rows.

 

9.           In which sub-dialog box can the Chi Square test be found?

 

a.           Frequencies: Percentages

b.           Crosstabs: Statistics  

c.           Bivariate: Pearson

d.           Sex : Female

 

10.         To generate a correlation coefficient between two variables with ordinal data, which set of instructions should you give SPSS?

 

a.           Analyze → Crosstabs → Descriptive Statistics → Spearman → ok  

b.           Graphs → Frequencies → [select variables]→ Spearman → ok

c.           Analyze → Compare Means → Anova table → First layer → Spearman → ok

d.           Analyze → Correlate → Bivariate →[select variables] → Spearman → ok

 

11.         Which of the following is NOT a file extension for files saved in SPSS?

 

a.           .sav

b.           .spo

c.           .sps

d.           . doc  

 

12.         If you are constructing a data file for a repeated measures design with 10 subjects and three conditions, hw many columns and rows will the file have?

 

a.           Ten columns and four rows

b.           Four columns and four rows

c.           Ten columns and ten rows

d.           Four columns and ten rows  

 

13.         Why might a data file have “missing data”?

 

a.           Some of a participant’s responses might be missing  

b.           There has been a mistake in saving the SPSS data file

c.           A participant did not take part in the whole study

d.           None of the above

 

14.         What might be an appropriate way to deal with missing data?

 

a.           Ignore it

b.           Go back to the participant and demand an answer

c.           Define missing values using the “recode” function  

d.           Start the study again taking more care with data recording

 

15.         What is the correct way to record non-numerical values?

 

a.           You can’t, SPSS only uses numbers

 

b.           Define the variable as “string”  

 

c.           Recode all the values as numbers

 

d.           Define the variable as “date”

 

Chapter 3 – Exploring Data

 

 

1.           Which of the following are assumptions underlying the use of parametric tests (based on the normal distribution)?

a.           the data should be normally distributed

b.           the samples being tested should have approximately equal variances

c.           your data should be at least interval level

d.           all of the above

 

2.           Which of the following does a box-whisker plot not display:

a.           The range

b.           The inter-quartile range

c.           The lower quartile

d.           The mean

 

3.           Which of the following is least affected by outliers

a.           The range

b.           The mean

c.           The median

d.           The standard deviation

 

4.           I collected some data about how much buyers of my book liked it (on a scale of 1 = it’s utter rubbish) to 10 (I never read anything else). I ended up with a sample of 15467 people. When I looked at the distribution, I found a skew of 1.23 (SE = .65). The mean rating was 4.78. What is the z-score for the skew of my data?

a. 1.89

b. 0.53

c. -3.92

d. 3.36

 

5.           Which of the following would be the best way to decide whether the skew in the example above is problematic?

a.           See if the z-score is bigger than 1.96 or smaller than -1.96

b.           See if the skew is significant at p < .05.

c.           Use the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test.

d.           None of the above because of the large sample size.

 

6.           Which of the following is not a transformation that can be used to correct skewed data?

a.           Log transformation

b.           Tangent transformation

c.           Square root transformation

d.           Reciprocal transformation

 

7.           The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test can be used to test:

a.           Whether data are normally-distributed.

b.           Whether group variances are equal.

c.           Whether scores are measured at the interval level.

d.           Whether group means differ.

 

8.           The assumption of homogeneity of variance is met when:

a.           The variance in one group is twice as big as that of a different group.

b.           Variances in different groups are approximately equal.

c.           The variance across groups is proportional to the means of those groups.

d.           The variance is the same as the inter-quartile range.

 

9.           If a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test is conducted and the result is significant, what does this mean for the data sample?

 

a.           The data sample is normally distributed

b.           The comparison used in the test is not valid

c.           The data sample is not normally distributed  

d.           The test is wrong

 

10.         Which of the following tests whether variances are homogenous?

 

a.           Levene’s test

b.           Bartlett’s test

c.           Neither

d.           Both  

 

11.         If a distribution is multimodal, what does this mean?

 

a.           It will not be a normal distribution  

b.           The data has been entered incorrectly

c.           It will be a normal distribution

d.           It will have to be checked with a Levene’s test

 

 

12.         What is an outlier?

 

a.           A set of data outside the data file

b.           A single score that is very different form the others  

c.           A score derived from a participant who has lied

d.           A variable that cannot be quantified

 

13.         Why are z-scores used to check for outliers?

 

a.           They standardise scores for a known mean and standard deviation, allowing comparison  

b.           They allow you to allocate letters for missing values

c.           A z-score is an outlier

d.           They standardise scores in order to convert them to values closer to the mean

 

14.         What does impendence of data mean?

 

a.           That we must never collect two set so f data from one person

b.           That independent researchers must collect the data

c.           That scores from one participant are free from influences from other participant

d.           That scores in one condition are free from influences from other conditions  

 

15.         Which of the followings NOT a property of a variance ratio?

 

a.           It can be used to demonstrate homogeneity of variances

b.           It is one variance divided by another

c.           It is one variance multiplied by another

d.           It can show the effect of a treatment on several groups

 

Chapter 4 - Correlation

 

 

1.           The covariance is

a.           An unstandardized version of the correlation coefficient.

b.           A measure of the strength of relationship between two variables.

c.           Dependent on the units of measurement of the variables.

d.           All of the above.

 

2.           A scatterplot shows

a.           The frequency with which values appear in the data.

b.           The average value of groups of data.

c.           Scores on one variable plotted against scores on a second variable.

d.           The proportion of data falling into different categories.

 

3.           Which of the following statement about Pearson’s correlation coefficient is not true?

a.           It can be used as an effect size measure

b.           It varies between -1 and +1

c.           It cannot be used with binary variables (those taking on a value of 0 or 1).

d.           It can be used on ranked data.

 

4.           The correlation between two variables A and B is .12 with a significance of p < .01, what can we concluded?

a.           That there is a substantial relationship between A and B.

b.           That there is a small relationship between A and B.

c.           That variable A causes variable B.

d.           All of the above.

 

5.           How much variance has been explained by a correlation of .9? a. 81%

b. 18%

c.           9%

d.           None of the above

 

6.           When interpreting a correlation coefficient, it is important to look at:

a.           The significance of the correlation coefficient.

b.           The magnitude of the correlation coefficient.

c.           The +/ - sign of the correlation coefficient.

d.           All of the above.