·         SAMPLE MULTIPLE CHOICE - EXAM 1

• This practice quiz is designed to give you an idea of what type of multiple choice questions may be asked on the exam. 

        It is NOT intended to act as a complete review of the material.  Answers appear at the end of the questions.

·         The exam will also have short answer items similar to Interpreting Basic Statistics exercises at the end of course handout packets.

·         There will NOT be calculation problems on the exam.

1.  According to the web chapter 1 associated with your text, a matched-group design

a. is a type of true experiment

b. is a descriptive research design

c. uses random assignment to put participants into groups

d. compares already existing groups (i.e., not randomly assigned)

2.  At a fast food restaurant, you can order a small burger, a medium burger, or a large

burger.  In this example, burger size is a(n)  ______________ variable.

a.  nominal

b.  ordinal

c.  interval

d.  ratio

3  The number of seconds it takes rats to run a maze is an example of what type

    of measurement scale?

 a.  nominal

 b.  ordinal

 c.  interval

 d.  ratio

Questions 4 – 7 are based on the following study.

A researcher randomly assigns students to work in pairs or individually to complete a series of statistics problems.  The researcher then gives all the students a quiz (all take the quiz on their own) to assess their ability to solve the problems. 

4.  The independent variable is

 

a.  number of problems solved on quiz

b.  series of statistical problems

c.  working conditions (alone or in pairs)

d.  students preexisting math ability

5.  The dependent variable is

a.  number of problems solved on quiz

b.  series of statistical problems

c.  working conditions (alone or in pairs)

d.  students preexisting math ability

6.  The design of this study is:

a.  matched-group

b.  correlational

c.  true experiment

d. quasi-experiment

7.  After analyzing the data the researcher concludes that working in pairs increases students’ understanding of statistics to a greater extent than working alone.  The researcher is using

a.  inferential statistics

b.  descriptive statistics

c.  intuitive statistics

d.  theoretical statistics

8.  The use of random assignment assures us that:

a.  Our study sample is representative of the population.

b.  We can generalize from our sample to our population.

c.   Subject characteristics are evenly distributed across all levels of the independent variable.

d.   Individual differences are eliminated.

9.  A floor effect will result in a:

a.  positively skewed distribution

b.  negatively skewed distribution

c.  symmetrical distribution

d.  rectangular distribution

10.  The frequency distribution pictured below is:

a.  positively skewed distribution

b.  negatively skewed distribution

c.  symmetrical distribution

d.  bell-shaped distribution

11.  In the above distribution you’d expect

a.  that the mean would be greater than the median

b.  that the mean would be less than the median

c.  that the mean would be the same as the median

d.  that the distribution would be described as bimodal

12.  You analyze a set of data and find that the distribution of scores has a positive skew of .371.  Assuming the data is interval or ratio scaled.  What measure of central tendency is appropriate?

a.  mode

b. median

c. mean

d. range

13.  Which of the following is a difference between the mean and the median?

a.  The median is the most frequent score, the mean is the least frequent score

b.  The median balances the number of scores on each side of it, the mean balances the deviations

     on each side of it.

c.  The median is more useful in inferential statistics than is the mean

d.  The median is sensitive to extreme scores in a distribution, the mean is not.

14.  The definition of the median is:

a.  most frequent score

b.  arithmetic average

c. score with 50% of scores above and below it

d. a grassy strip down the middle of the highway.

15.  A score that indicates the distance of a score from the mean in standard deviation units is:

a.  percentile rank

b.  percentile point

c.  deviation score

d.  z-score

16. In the following table, what is the frequency of four bedrooms found in the houses of one neighborhood?

a.  17

b. 29

c. 54

d. 35

 17.  In the following graph, most students prefer a _________ meal, with a frequency of  ______.

a.  Mexican, 14

b.  Mexican, 12

c.  Chinese, 8

d.  Chinese, 6

18.  The type of graph illustrated in the previous question (17) is a:

a.  histogram

b.  polygon

c.  bar graph

d.  whiskers and box plot

19.  Another name for the most frequent score is

a.  mean

b.  median

c.  deviation

d.  mode

20.  To graph a frequency distribution of interval or ratio data one uses

a.  a bar graph

b.  histogram

c.  polygon

d.  a histogram or polygon

21.  The measure of central tendency that is most useful in inferential statistics is

a.  mean

b.  median

c.  deviation

d.  mode

22.  Carrie’s test score converts to a z-score of – 1.75.  How should Carrie interpret this?

a.  Carrie should be happy that she scored above the mean.

b.  Carrie should step up her game because her score is well below the mean.

c.  Carrie’s score is suffering from platykurtic slump.

d.  Carrie hardly ever attends class so what does she care?

23.  A parameter is a characteristic of a population.  A statistic is a characteristic of a(n)

a.  curve

b.  graph

c.  sample

d.  standardized score

24.  The difference between the highest score and the lowest score in a distribution is the

a.  range

b.  mode

c.  deviation

d.  variance

25.  How is the standard deviation related to the variance?

a.  It is the square of the variance.

b.  It is the average of the variance.

c.  It is the square root of the variance.

d.  It is the variance that has been transformed into a z-score.

26.  You conduct a study about students’ attitudes about health care reform.  You have them rate their agreement and disagreement on a 1 to 7 scale to a series of statements about health care reform.  After looking at the histogram and examining the skew coefficient, you conclude that the distribution is symmetrical.  What descriptive statistics should you use?

a.  median and range

b.  mean and standard deviation

c.  mode and range

d.  median and standard deviation

e.  if you chose “d” don’t you remember that I threatened to slap you silly if you ever said you would use the standard deviation with any other central tendency besides the mean?

27.  What measure of variability roughly equals the average of deviations of scores around the mean?

a.  range

b.  inter-quartile range

c.  variance

d.  standard deviation