PSYC 1094 exam 3 review questions

Which of the following is one of the three basic ways of describing the results of research investigations? graphing relationships between variables making precise statements about data by correlating the scores of individuals on two variables comparing group percentages comparing variable quantities

comparing group percentages

Five college students each reported the number of drinks themselves had on Halloween are 3, 1, 4, 0, and 2. What is the standard deviation for the number of drinks these 5 college students had on Halloween? 1.414 2.381 1.032 2.004

1.414

Five college students each reported the number of drinks themselves had on Halloween are 3, 1, 4, 0, and 2. What is the mean for the number of drinks these 5 college students had on Halloween? 2.5 1.5 1 2

2

Which of the following is one of the most important reasons a meta-analysis can lead to clear conclusions? A) It focuses on effect size. B) It identifies trends in literature. C) It points out inconsistent findings and areas in which existing research is lacking. D) It provides information pertaining to strongly supported findings in literature.

A) It focuses on effect size

The general form of a regression equation is Y = a + bX. In this equation, Y is the score we wish to predict and X is the known score. What is "a"? A) It is a constant. B) It is a weighting adjustment factor that is multiplied by X. C) It is the slope of the line created with this equation. D) It is the difference between X and Y.

A) It is a constant

The _____ of a set of scores is obtained by adding all the scores and dividing by the number of scores. A) mean B) mode C) median D) standard deviation

A) mean

A correlation coefficient is used A) to describe the strength of the relationship between two variables. B) when the design of a study uses a correlational method. C) to determine the significance of statistical analyses. D) when data are collected using a nominal scale.

A) to describe the strength of the relationship between two variables

When the independent variable has no effect on the dependent variable, the effect size statistic will A) be equal to the degrees of freedom. B) have a value of 0.00. C) have a value of −1.0 or +1.0. D) vary depending on the alpha level.

B) have a value of 0.00

A Type I error occurs when one A) rejects the null hypothesis when it is false. B) rejects the null hypothesis when it is true. C) accepts the null hypothesis when it is true. D) accepts the null hypothesis when it is false.

B) rejects the null hypothesis when it is true

The null hypothesis is rejected whenever A) past studies prove it wrong. B) there is a low probability that the obtained results could be due to random error. C) the independent variable fails to have an effect on the dependent variable. D) the researcher is convinced that the variable is ineffective in causing changes in behavior.

B) there is a low probability that the obtained results could be due to random error

The measure of central tendency that reflects the most frequent score is the A) mean. B) median. C) mode. D) meridian.

C) mode

Variables with _____ scale levels exhibit minimal quantitative distinctions. A) random B) interval C) ordinal D) ratio

C) ordinal

What is external validity? A) the adequacy of an experimental design B) the effectiveness of the manipulation of an independent variable C) the generalizability of research findings D) the practical application of research findings

C) the generalizability of research findings

Which of the following is a similarity between literature reviews and meta-analyses? A) Both tell the reader about the findings that are strongly or weakly supported in the literature. B) Both primarily focus on the internal validity of a research. C) Both allow statistical, quantitative conclusions. D) Both begin with a body of previous research on a topic.

D) Both begin with a body of previous research on a topic

If both the independent and dependent variables use nominal scale properties, the most appropriate statistical test would be the A) Pearson correlation. B) analysis of variance. C) t test. D) chi-square test.

D) chi-square test

A researcher replicates a past study that manipulates the physical attractiveness of a defendant by using photographs instead of written descriptions. This technique is an example of a(n) ________ replication A) procedural B) abstract C) exact D) conceptual

D) conceptual

A Type II error occurs when one A) rejects the null hypothesis when it is false. B) rejects the null hypothesis when it is true. C) retains the null hypothesis when it is true. D) retains the null hypothesis when it is false.

D) retains the null hypothesis when it is false

In which of the following ways can a study aimed at examining college students' attitudes toward tuition increases demonstrate external validity? A) sampling only students enrolled at colleges that have not raised tuition B) lowering tuition for one semester and raising it for the next semester C) focusing on the difference in attitudes between students who have experienced tuition increases and students who have not D) showing that the results apply to college students from other universities as well

D) showing that the results apply to college students from other universities as well

A science test was given to boys and girls from three different schools. Rudolph, a junior researcher, wants to analyze the difference in the variability of the mean scores among the three schools. The appropriate statistical test would be the Mann-Whitney U test. chi-square test. F test. sign test.

F test

A researcher was interested in the differences in the opinions about marriage between men and women. The researcher predicted that women would have different opinions about marriage from men. What would the null hypothesis suggest in this situation? Women have more positive opinions about marriage than men. Men have more positive opinions about marriage than women. There is no difference between men and women in their opinions about marriage. There is a difference between men and women in their opinions about marriage.

There is no difference between men and women in their opinions about marriage

According to Peterson (2001), which of the following statements is true when using students as research participants? They, as a group, are more homogeneous than nonstudent samples. They have a well-established sense of self-identity. They are less in need of approval than nonvolunteers. They, as a group, have formed stable political attitudes.

They, as a group, are more homogeneous than nonstudent samples

Tevy reports that individuals who follow her diet plan lose more weight than individuals who follow Jake's diet plan. In actuality, there is no difference in weight loss between those following Tevy's diet plan and those following Jake's diet plan. In this case, Tevy's claim illustrates a _____ error. Type IV Type III Type II Type I

Type I

Which of the following scales of measurement lacks numerical properties? a nominal scale an ordinal scale an interval scale a ratio scale

a nominal scale

Inferential statistics are used to generally describe data. are used to make conclusions about data. focus mainly on scales of measurement. focus mainly on standard deviations.

are used to make conclusions about data

In which of the following ways does restricting the range of a variable affect the correlation coefficient? It improves the correlation coefficient. It reduces the magnitude of the correlation coefficient. It has no effect on the correlation coefficient. It changes the direction of the correlation coefficient.

it reduces the magnitude of the correlation coefficient

Elaine reads a number of studies examining the effect of physical attractiveness on the judgment of an individual's personality. She then writes a paper in which she summarizes the findings and draws conclusions based on her summaries of these studies. In this scenario, Elaine has most likely conducted a categorization analysis. meta-analysis. literature review. meta-categorization.

literature review

A researcher studying the gender-based differences in the use of disciplinary practices predicted that men use power-oriented practices more frequently than women. In this case, the research hypothesis would suggest that women use power-oriented practices more than men. men use power-oriented practices more than women. there is no difference between men and women in the use of disciplinary techniques. gender does not influence the kind of disciplinary practice used.

men use power-oriented practices more than women

To examine the effects of drug therapy on depression, Mark found 45 studies in which adults diagnosed with depression and undergoing a drug therapy were examined. Studies that included other additional treatments were excluded. He then performed a statistical analysis of the results of these 45 studies and concluded that drug therapy was effective in treating depression. In this scenario, Mark has most likely conducted a literature review. meta-analysis. statistical review. causal analysis.

meta-analysis

In their comprehensive study on various ways in which volunteers differ from nonvolunteers, Rosenthal and Rosnow (1975) reported that volunteers tend to be less educated. of a lower socioeconomic status. more in need of approval. more antisocial.

more in need of approval

When findings are replicated using _____, one's confidence in the generalizability of the findings _____. college students; decreases statistical interactions; increases pretests; decreases multiple methods; increases

multiple methods; increases

The likelihood of the occurrence of some event or outcome is referred to as reactivity. reliability. variability. probability.

probability

The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient is called the Pearson c. is used when both variables have ordinal or nominal scale properties. provides information about the strength of a relationship. does not indicate the direction of a relationship.

provides information about the strength of a relationship

When testing the differences between means, the null hypothesis suggests that any observed difference is due to manipulation. systematic variance. error variance. random error.

random error

The _____ is a measure of variability that is simply the difference between the highest score and the lowest score. variance standard deviation median range

range

When testing the differences between means, the _____ hypothesis suggests that population means are not equal. null research practical significant

research

If a researcher proposes that there is a difference in the hiring preferences between veterans and nonveterans, such a proposition represents the ________ hypothesis. If the researcher proposes that there is no difference in the hiring preferences between veterans and non-veterans, such a proposition represents the ________ hypothesis. null; research research; null inferential; descriptive descriptive; inferential

research; null

In the context of correlation coefficients, which of the following problems occurs when the individuals in a sample are very similar on the variable being studied? restriction of range measurement error temporal precedence central tendency

restriction of range

All statistical techniques rely on _____ to determine the probability that the results are consistent with the null hypothesis. Type I errors Type II errors sampling distributions statistical significance

sampling distributions

In a perfect positive relationship between two variables, the score on one variable enables predicting an individual's score on the other variable. correlation coefficient will range between -1.0 and +1.0. scores on one variable will be the same as the scores on the other variable. correlation coefficient would be nearer to -1.0.

score on one variable enables predicting an individual's score on the other variable

In an attempt to study police officers' attitudes toward their supervisors, Alex surveys 25 police officers working during the day shift. In this scenario, what can help Alex ensure that his findings have external validity? using a larger sample of officers working in the day shift randomly assigning officers to work under specific supervisors surveying officers from all shifts in the department using confounding variables

surveying officers from all shifts in the department

The _____ is commonly used to examine whether two groups are significantly different from each other. t test Mann-Whitney U test Chi-square test r test

t test

In the general form of a regression equation given by Y = a + bX, the letter X represents the score we wish to predict. the known score. a weighting adjustment factor. a constant.

the known score

In assessing the relationship between variable x and variable y, the squared value of the correlation coefficient (r2) is sometimes reported. This value represents the degree of variability in variable x. the degree of variability in variable y. the effect size of the variables. the percent of variance in y that can be accounted for by x.

the percent of variance in y that can be accounted for by x

What does a Solomon four-group design assess? the possible impact of taking a pretest the significance of a simple factorial design the limitations of the external validity of a study the impact of independent variables under highly controlled settings

the possible impact of taking a pretest

The presence of an interaction between the gender and the age of the participants in a study indicates that the results of the study are accurately interpreted. age is a more important variable than gender. the results for males cannot be generalized to females. there is no relationship between age and gender.

the results for males cannot be generalized to females

In the context of the three basic ways of describing the results of research investigations, identify a true statement about correlating individual scores. Pie charts are primarily used for graphing the results. Correlating individual scores is most preferred when there are distinct groups of subjects. Individuals are measured on three or more variables. The variables being measured have a range of numerical values.

the variables being measured have a range of numerical values

A researcher asked participants to rate the softness of two well-known brands of tissue paper—Daisy and Flora. Daisy was rated softer than Flora and their mean ratings were 5.50 and 3.25, respectively. This difference was statistically significant at the .05 probability level. The null hypothesis for the population suggests that Daisy is softer than Flora. Flora is softer than Daisy. there is a difference between Daisy and Flora in softness. there is no difference between the softness of Daisy and Flora tissues.

there is no difference between the softness of Daisy and Flora tissues

A researcher assesses the length of the prison sentence for physically attractive and physically unattractive defendants. He believes that attractive defendants will receive shorter prison sentences than unattractive defendants. The null hypothesis would suggest that there is no difference in the length of the prison sentence received by attractive and unattractive defendants. physically attractive defendants will receive longer prison sentences than physically unattractive defendants. physically attractive defendants will receive shorter prison sentences than physically unattractive defendants. some other variable such as gender is responsible for the difference in the length of the prison sentence.

there is no difference in the length of the prison sentence received by attractive and unattractive defendants

When comparing the differences in the ratings of responsibility for an automobile accident between male and female drivers, the null hypothesis would suggest that women are more responsible drivers than men. there is no difference in the ratings of responsibility between male and female drivers. men are more responsible drivers than women. there is a difference in the ratings of responsibility between male and female drivers.

there is no difference in the ratings of responsibility between male and female drivers

One solution to the problem of generalizing to other experimenters is to use two or more experimenters. a field experimental technique. computers to test participants. quasi-experiments.

two or more experimenters

A measure of _____ is a number that characterizes the amount of spread in a distribution of scores. central tendency effect size correlation variability

variability

Which of the following statements is true about standard deviation? It tells one what the sample as a whole, or on an average, is like. It is calculated by multiplying the variance of the given data with its range. It becomes larger as more people have scores that lie farther from the mean value. It is simply the difference between the highest score and the lowest score.

it becomes larger as more people have scores that lie farther from the mean value

Which of the following statements is true about error variance? It is the deviation of group means from the means of other groups. It is commonly referred to as Type II error. It is the variability of scores within a group. It is insignificant when the F ratio is large.

it is the variability of scores within a group

Which statistical test would be most appropriate for examining the relationship between temperature and the number of ice cream cones sold? chi-square test analysis of variance t test Pearson correlation

Pearson correlation

Which of the following statements is true about pretests? One drawback of a pretest is that it fails to provide a researcher with an assessment of the attrition effects. A pretest acts as a hindrance when determining whether the people who withdrew are different from those who completed the study. It is often a misconception that simply taking a pretest may cause subjects to behave differently than they would without the pretest. Pretesting may limit the ability to generalize to populations that did not receive a pretest.

Pretesting may limit the ability to generalize to populations that did not receive a pretest

When comparing two group means, the _____ refers to the number of scores free to vary once the means are known. null hypothesis research hypothesis statistical significance degrees of freedom

degrees of freedom

Dr. Afzal finds that students who work less than 10 hours a week have significantly higher test scores than students who work more than 10 hours a week. In order to determine the magnitude of the effect of work hours on test scores, he should calculate an estimate of the critical value. effect size. null effect. halo effect.

effect size

_____ refers to the strength of association between variables. Statistical index Effect size The standard deviation Linear degree

effect size

Maria had to take an aptitude test before starting graduate school. In this scenario, the criterion variable will be Maria's appearance and personality. expected ability to get along with her fellow students. score on the aptitude test. expected performance as a student in graduate school.

expected performance as a student in graduate school

When studying the effect of temperature on the sales of ice creams, a researcher records the number of ice creams sold on cold days and the number sold on hot days. In this scenario, the researcher will most likely compare _____ to describe the results. group percentages group means estimated scores frequency polygons

group means

The principal of a school conducts a survey to compare the number of third-grade and sixth-grade students who buy lunch from school. The most appropriate way to describe the results of this survey is to compare group percentages. frequency polygons. group means. the items purchased.

group percentages

Aden finds that, on an average, men have higher starting salaries than women. In order to conclude that the differences in starting salaries are true differences and not a result of random error, Aden would employ the use of _____ statistics. qualitative descriptive inferential ordinal

inferential

Which of the following is used to determine whether the results held up if an experiment was conducted repeatedly, each time with a new sample? descriptive statistics inferential statistics the research hypothesis the null hypothesis

inferential statistics

A correlation coefficient is used when both variables have different scales of measurement. nominal scale properties. interval or ratio scale properties. ordinal and interval scale properties.

interval or ratio scale properties

A researcher finds that the correlation between two variables is .63, but this correlation drops to .20 when a third variable is "partialed out of" the original correlation. In this scenario, the researcher is most likely to conclude that the third variable is not a factor in the correlation. increases the accuracy of prediction. is highly correlated with the other two variables. does not influence the relationship between the other two variables.

is highly correlated with the other two variables