Research Methods and Statistics A Critical Thinking Approach 5th Edition by Sherri L. Jackson – Test Bank

Complete Test Bank With Answers

 

 

Sample Questions Posted Below

 

Multiple Choice

1. A table in which all of the scores are listed along with the frequency with which each occurs is a _____.

a. bar graph

b. histogram

c. frequency polygon

d. frequency distribution

ANSWER: d

KEYWORDS: ORGANIZING DATA—UNDERSTAND

2. A table in which the scores are grouped into intervals and listed along with the frequency of scores in each interval is a

_____.

a. bar graph

b. histogram

c. class interval frequency distribution

d. class interval frequency polygon

ANSWER: c

KEYWORDS: ORGANIZING DATA—UNDERSTAND

3. A categorical variable for which each value represents a discrete category is a

a. qualitative

b. quantitative

c. continuous

variable.

_____

d. class interval

ANSWER: a

KEYWORDS: ORGANIZING DATA—UNDERSTAND

4. A variable for which the scores represent a change in quantity is a

a. qualitative

b. quantitative

c. class interval

_____

d. nominal

ANSWER: b

KEYWORDS: ORGANIZING DATA—UNDERSTAND

variable.

5. A graphical representation of a frequency distribution in which vertical bars are centered above each category along the

x-axis and are separated from each other by a space is a _____.

a. histogram

b. bar graph

c. pie graph

d. frequency polygon

ANSWER: b

KEYWORDS: ORGANIZING DATA—UNDERSTAND

6. A graphical representation of a frequency distribution in which vertical bars centered above scores on the x-axis touch

each other is a _____.

a. histogramb. bar graph

c. pie graph

d. frequency polygon

ANSWER: a

KEYWORDS: ORGANIZING DATA—UNDERSTAND

7. A line graph of the frequencies of individual scores is a _____.

a. histogram

b. frequency distribution

c. frequency polygon

d. bar graph

ANSWER: c

KEYWORDS: ORGANIZING DATA—UNDERSTAND

8.

_____

is to organizing data using a table as

_____

is to organizing data using a figure.

a. Histogram; bar graph

b. Frequency polygon; bar graph

c. Frequency distribution; histogram

d. Frequency polygon; frequency distribution

ANSWER: c

KEYWORDS: ORGANIZING DATA—THINK CRITICALLY

9. Bar graphs are to

_____

as frequency polygons are to _____.

a. quantitative variables; qualitative variables

b. qualitative variables; quantitative variables

c. continuous data; discrete data

d. quantitative variables and continuous data; qualitative variables and discrete data

ANSWER: b

KEYWORDS: ORGANIZING DATA—THINK CRITICALLY

10. Qualitative variable is to quantitative variable as

____

is to _____.

a. categorical variable; numerical variable

b. numerical variable; categorical variable

c. ordinal, interval, or ratio data; nominal data

d. categorical variable and ordinal, interval, or ratio data; numerical variable and nominal data

ANSWER: a

KEYWORDS: ORGANIZING DATA—THINK CRITICALLY

11. A number that characterizes the “middleness” of an entire distribution is _____.

a. a measure of central tendency

b. a measure of variability

c. an inferential statistic

d. the standard deviation

ANSWER: a

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—UNDERSTAND12. The arithmetic average of a distribution is the _____.

a. mean

b. median

c. mode

d. standard deviation

ANSWER: a

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—UNDERSTAND

13. Seven students reported the following individual earnings from their sale of wrapping paper: $7, $13, $3, $5, $2, $9,

and $3. In this distribution of individual earnings, the mean is

the mode and

the median.

_____

_____

a. equal to; equal to

b. greater than; equal to

c. equal to; less than

d. greater than; greater than

ANSWER: d

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

14. During the past year, Cindy and Bobby each read 2 books, but Greg read 25, Jan read 12, and Marcia read 9. The

median number of books read by these individuals was

a. 2.

b. 9.

c. 10.

d. 50.

ANSWER: b

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

15. The middle score in a distribution after the scores have been arranged from highest to lowest or lowest to highest is the

_____.

a. mean

b. median

c. mode

d. standard deviation

ANSWER: b

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—UNDERSTAND

16. When Ms. Jones calculated her students’ accounting test scores, she noticed that one student had an extremely low

score. Which measure of central tendency should not be used in this situation?

a. mean

b. standard deviation

c. mode

d. median

ANSWER: a

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

17. Imagine that 86,999 people who are penniless live in Centerville. Bill Gates, whose net worth is $87,000,000,000,

moves to Centerville. Now the mean net worth in this town is

_____

and the median net worth is _____.

a. 0; 0b. 0; $1,000,000

c. $1,000,000; 0

d. $1,000,000; $1,000,000

ANSWER: c

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

18. Arithmetic average is to

_____

as score occurring with the greatest frequency is to _____.

a. mean; median

b. median; mode

c. mean; mode

d. mode; median

ANSWER: c

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—THINK CRITICALLY

19. Mode is to

_____

and median is to _____.

a. b. c. d. interval and ratio data only; nominal data only

nominal data only; ordinal data only

all types of data; ordinal, interval, and ratio data only

none of the options is correct

ANSWER: c

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—THINK CRITICALLY

20. A distribution can have more than one

but can have only one _____.

____

a. median; mode or mean

b. mean; mode or median

c. mode; median or mean

d. median or mode; mean

ANSWER: c

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—UNDERSTAND

21. Which of the following is a disadvantage of using the range as a measure of variation?

a. It is limited because only two of the scores in the distribution are used to derive it.

b. It is easily distorted by an unusually high or low score in a distribution.

c. It can only be used with nominal data.

d. It is limited because only two of the scores in the distribution are used to derive it, and it is easily distorted by

an unusually high or low score in a distribution.

ANSWER: d

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—THINK CRITICALLY

22. The calculation of the average deviation differs from the calculation of the standard deviation in that when calculating

the average deviation the difference scores are

a. squared.

b. converted to absolute values.

c. squared and converted to absolute values.

d. it does not differ.

ANSWER: bKEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—THINK CRITICALLY

23. Imagine that distribution A contains the following scores: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Imagine that distribution B contains the

following scores: 1, 3, 5, 8, 10. Distribution A has a

standard deviation and a

_____

_____

average deviation in

comparison to distribution B.

a. larger; larger

b. smaller; smaller

c. larger; smaller

d. smaller; larger

ANSWER: b

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—THINK CRITICALLY

24. Which of the following is FALSE?

a. The range is a simplistic measure of variation that does not use all scores in the distribution in its calculation.

b. The average deviation is a more sophisticated measure of variation than the range in which all scores are used

but which may not weight extreme scores adequately.

c. The standard deviation is the least sophisticated measure of variation and the least frequently used.

d. all of the options are true

ANSWER: c

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—THINK CRITICALLY

25. If the shape of a frequency distribution is lopsided, with a long tail projecting longer to the right than to the left, how

would the distribution be skewed?

a. normally

b. negatively

c. positively

d. average

ANSWER: c

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—THINK CRITICALLY

26. A z-score is most affected by the

a. median.

b. mode.

c. standard deviation.

d. range.

ANSWER: c

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—THINK CRITICALLY

27. If Joe scored 25 on a test with a mean of 20 and a standard deviation of 5 what is his z-score?

a. 25

b. +1.0

c. 0.0

d. cannot be determined

ANSWER: b

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

28. Sue took a test in both biology and math last week. The biology test had a mean of 70 and a standard deviation of 7whereas the math test had a mean of 75 and a standard deviation of 10. Sue scored a 76 on the biology test and a 76 on the

math test. On which test did she do better in comparison to the rest of the class?

a. the math test

b. the biology test

c. she did the same on each test

d. cannot be determined

ANSWER: b

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

29. Faculty in the psychology department at State University consume an average of 5 cups of coffee per day with a

standard deviation of 1.5. The distribution is normal. What proportion of faculty consumes an amount between 4 and 6

cups?

a. 0.5468

b. 0.4972

c. 0.50

d. none of the options is correct

ANSWER: b

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

30. Faculty in the psychology department at State University consume an average of 5 cups of coffee per day with a

standard deviation of 1.5. The distribution is normal. What is the percentile rank for an individual who consumed 8 cups

of coffee per day?

a. 97.72

b. 2.28

c. 47.72

d. none of the options is correct

ANSWER: a

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

31. Faculty in the psychology department at State University consume an average of 5 cups of coffee per day with a

standard deviation of 1.5. The distribution is normal. How many cups of coffee would an individual at the 25th percentile

drink per day?

a. 4

b. 5

c. 6

d. 7

ANSWER: a

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

32. If the average height for women is normally distributed with a mean of 65 inches and a standard deviation of 2.5

inches, then approximately 95% of all women should be between

and

_____

_____

inches in height.

a. 62.5; 67.7

b. 60; 70

c. 57.5; 72.5

d. cannot determine from the information given

ANSWER: b

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY33. Rich’s first psychology exam score is +1 standard deviation from the mean in a normal distribution. The test has a

mean of 60 and a standard deviation of 6. Rich’s percentile rank would be approximately

a. 70%.

b. 84%.

c. 66%.

d. cannot determine from the information given

ANSWER: b

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

34. Approximately what percentage of scores are between z=1 and z=2?

a. 50

b. 68

c. 16

d. 13.5

ANSWER: d

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—THINK CRITICALLY

35. Karen’s first psychology exam score is

-1 standard deviation from the mean in a normal distribution. The test has a

mean of 75 and a standard deviation of 5. Karen’s percentile rank would be

a. 16%.

b. 54%.

c. 70%.

d. cannot determine from the information given

ANSWER: a

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

36. In a psychology class of 100 students, test scores are normally distributed with a mean of 80 and a standard deviation

of 5. Approximately what percentage of students have scores between 70 and 90?

a. 68%

b. 80%

c. 95%

d. 99%

ANSWER: c

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—THINK CRITICALLY

Subjective Short Answer

37. Draw the frequency polygon for the following distribution (there are 30 scores in the distribution). In addition,

calculate the mean, median, and mode for the distribution.

48, 50, 53, 59, 59, 63, 63, 67, 67, 67, 72, 72, 72, 78, 78, 78, 78, 85, 85, 85, 85, 85, 90, 90, 90, 90, 95, 95, 98, 100ANSWER:

Mean

=

76.57, Median

=

78, Mode

KEYWORDS: ORGANIZING DATA—APPLY

=

85

38. Explain the difference between qualitative and quantitative variables noting the relationship of nominal, ordinal,

interval, and ratio data to these terms.

ANSWER: A qualitative variable is a categorical variable for which each value represents a discrete category,

whereas a quantitative variable is a variable for which the scores represent a change in quantity.

Nominal data are qualitative and ordinal, interval, and ratio data are quantitative.

KEYWORDS: ORGANIZING DATA—UNDERSTAND

39. Explain the difference in proper use between a bar graph and a histogram.

ANSWER: A bar graph is used when the data are nominal and qualitative. A histogram is used when the data are

qualitative and ordinal, interval, or ratio in scale.

KEYWORDS: ORGANIZING DATA—UNDERSTAND

40. Calculate the mean, median, and mode for the following sample: 2, 2, 6, 9, 10, 11, 15, 17, 18, 20.

ANSWER: The mean is 11, the median is 10.5, and the mode is 2.

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

=

41. For a hypothetical normal distribution of test scores, approximately 95% fall between 38 and 62, 2.5% are below 38,

and 2.5% are above 62. Given this information, (a) the mode

=

_________

and (b) the standard deviation

_________.

ANSWER: The mode is 50 (along with the mean and median) and the standard deviation is 6.

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—THINK CRITICALLY

42. Calculate S (standard deviation) and A.D. (average deviation) for the following sample.

2, 2, 6, 9, 10, 10, 15, 18, 18, 20.

ANSWER: The standard deviation is 6.56 and the A.D. is 5.4.

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

43. Draw a positively skewed distribution and a negatively skewed distribution noting where the mean, median, and mode

would fall with respect to each other in these distributions.ANSWER:

Negatively Skewed Positively Skewed

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

44. Tom, Tina, & Tori took a verbal aptitude test. The test was normally distributed with a mean of 70 and s

Complete the following table.

ANSWER: Name Raw Score Z-score Percentile Rank

=

15.

Tom 73 +.20 57.93

Tina 52 -1.2 11.51

Tori 58.9 -.74 23

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—APPLY

45. Students in the psychology department consume an average of 5 cups of coffee per day with a standard deviation of

1.75 cups. The number of cups of coffee consumed is normally distributed.

ANSWER:  What proportion of students consumes an amount equal to or less than 6 cups per day?

0.7157

 How many cups would an individual at the 80th percentile drink?

6.47

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—THINK CRITICALLY

46. Draw two distributions with the same standard deviations but different means.

ANSWER:

KEYWORDS: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—THINK CRITICALLY