Test Bank

Chapter 9: Quantitative Data Analysis

Multiple Choice

1. For the set of numbers 4, 6, 7, 6, 2, 3, 4, 6, 2, 5, the mode is ______.

A. 2

B. 4

C. 6

D. 9

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. The square root of the average squared deviation of each case from the mean is ______.

A. variance

B. skewness

C. normal distribution

D. standard deviation

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. ______ is NOT a criterion that should be considered when determining which studies to include in a meta-analysis.

A. Time frame

B. Tables displayed

C. Publication type

D. Research methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. ______ is NOT an aspect of a crosstabulation table.

A. Existence

B. Strength

C. Direction

D. none of these

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. The mathematical likelihood that an association is not due to chance and typically expressed using a p value is ______.

A. γ

B. statistical significance

C. χ²

D. regression

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Probability average is another term for ______.

A. mean

B. median

C. mode

D. none of these

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. In the group of numbers 1, 1, 6, 7, 8, 37, 37 is ______.

A. the mean

B. the median

C. an outlier

D. the range

Difficulty Level: Hard

8. The process of assigning a unique numerical code to each response to survey questions is called ______.

A. coding

B. precoding

C. randomization

D. data cleaning

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. When you create a percentage table, you should percentage ______.

A. the columns

B. the rows

C. the columns and the rows

D. neither columns nor rows

Difficulty Level: Hard

10. Any pattern of association between two quantitative variables that does not involve a regular increase or decrease is known as ______.

A. variance

B. monotonic

C. curvilinear

D. bimodal

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Statistics used for estimating the degree of confidence that can be placed in generalizations from a sample to the population from which it was selected are known as ______.

A. descriptive statistics

B. variability measures

C. measures of central tendency

D. inferential statistics

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. How do most survey organizations now prevent the entry of invalid codes?

A. preceding of surveys

B. database programs that control data entry

C. use of secondary data

D. use of qualitative research

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Quantitative data that vary along a continuum are best displayed as which type(s) of graphs?

A. frequency polygon

B. histogram

C. bar chart

D. frequency polygon and histogram

Difficulty Level: Hard

14. Data should be grouped in distributions in all of the following situations EXCEPT ______.

A. There are more than 15–20 values on the variable to begin with.

B. There are too many categories to be displayed on an easily readable table.

C. The distribution will be clearer if some values are combined.

D. The values between categories are significantly different.

Difficulty Level: Hard

15. If you want to display the percentage of men in eight team sports as compared to women in the most efficient table, use a ______.

A. combined frequency display

B. compressed frequency display

C. frequency polygon

D. histogram

Difficulty Level: Hard

16. The probability average is also the ______.

A. mean

B. median

C. mode

D. variance

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Which of the following are used to summarize the central tendency of quantitative variables?

A. mean and mode

B. variance and range

C. γ and χ²

D. median and mean

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. If the mean is greater than the median, which of the following must be true?

A. Variable is normally distributed.

B. Variable is measured at the ordinal level.

C. The variable's distribution must be positively skewed.

D. The relationship between variables is inverse.

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. If the purpose of a statistic is to report the middle position in one or more distributions, which of the following is the appropriate statistic?

A. mean

B. median

C. χ²

D. Pearson's r

Difficulty Level: Hard

20. A standard deviation is the square root of the ______.

A. mean

B. median

C. range

D. variance

Difficulty Level: Easy

21. Unique combinations of row and column variables in a cross-tabulation can be found in the table ______.

A. title

B. cells

C. marginals

D. stubs

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. γ measures the strength of association in ______.

A. correlation

B. regression

C. crosstabs

D. elaboration

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. Third variables can be entered into a bivariate relationship for all of the following reasons EXCEPT ______.

A. to identify an intervening variable

B. to test a relationship for spuriousness

C. to establish statistical significance

D. as a control variable

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. In a regression analysis, if r = 0, then ______.

A. the correlation is perfect

B. the correlation is negative

C. the correlation is normal

D. there is no linear correlation

Difficulty Level: Hard

25. Adding an intervening variable in a bivariate analysis allows us to understand what potential part of the relationship?

A. direction of association

B. strength of association

C. causal mechanism

D. nonspuriousness

Difficulty Level: Hard

26. To consider context in a bivariate crosstabs, add ______?

A. control variable

B. dichotomous variable

C. extraneous variable

D. intervening variable

Difficulty Level: Medium

27. ______ data displays would be the most appropriate for displaying the distribution of the highest year of school completed?

A. mean

B. mode

C. histogram

D. regression

Difficulty Level: Hard

28. Which of the following is NOT a guideline for constructing graphs?

A. When possible, use graphics instead of bars.

B. Always use bars of equal width.

C. The two axes should be of approximately equal length.

D. Avoid “chart junk” that clutters the graph.

Difficulty Level: Hard

29. The total number of cases in a distribution is called ______.

A. the base number N

B. the range

C. the row marginal

D. the mode

Difficulty Level: Easy

30. A measure of variation that looks at the upper limit in a distribution minus the true lower limit is?

A. IQR

B. range

C. variance

D. standard deviation

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. Which summary statistic should be used for nominal variables?

A. range

B. mode

C. mean

D. median

Difficulty Level: Hard

32. In the following distribution of the variable semesters completed, which is the mode: 4, 3, 1, 0, 3, 3, 4, 0, 3, 2?

A. 0

B. 1

C. 2

D. 3

Difficulty Level: Hard

33. In the following distribution of the variable semesters completed, which of the following is the median: 4, 3, 1, 0, 3, 3, 4, 0, 3, 2, 4?

A. 0

B. 1

C. 2

D. 3

Difficulty Level: Hard

34. In the following distribution of the variable semesters completed, which of the following whole numbers is closest to the mean: 4, 3, 1, 0, 3, 3, 4, 0, 3, 2?

A. 0

B. 1

C. 2

D. 3

Difficulty Level: Hard

35. An alternative to the histogram, which is particularly useful for displaying variables with a wide range of values, is a ______.

A. bar chart

B. pie chart

C. categorical chart

D. frequency polygon

Difficulty Level: Hard

36. In a normal curve, roughly what percentage of all cases fall within plus or minus 2 standard deviations?

A. 10%

B. 25%

C. 68%

D. 95%

Difficulty Level: Medium

37. When a standard deviation is calculated from sample data, the denominator in the formula SHOULD be ______.

A. the sum of all values of Y

B. the mean of Y

C. N

D. N − 1

Difficulty Level: Medium

38. Which of the following are statistical measures of variation?

A. mean, median, and mode

B. variance and standard deviation

C. γ and chi square

D. highest and lowest value

Difficulty Level: Medium

39. Typical standards in frequency table construction allow people to ______.

A. compare across and percentage down columns

B. percentage down and compare across columns

C. compare row and column marginals

D. project the distribution of the independent and dependent variables

Difficulty Level: Medium

40. Three features of a distribution's shape are ______.

A. variability, compression, and distribution

B. variability, frequency, and distribution

C. central tendency, variability, and skewness

D. mode, median, and mean

Difficulty Level: Hard

41. A bar chart is best used to display what kind of data?

A. nominal

B. dichotomous

C. ordinal

D. interval

Difficulty Level: Hard

42. All of the following are ways of defining the median of a distribution EXCEPT ______.

A. the position average

B. the point that divides the distribution in half

C. the 50th percentile

D. the arithmetic average

Difficulty Level: Hard

43. Estimating the probability that an association between two variables is not due to chance in a cross-tabular analysis is based on an inferential statistic called ______.

A. χ²

B. probability average

C. standard deviation

D. correlation

Difficulty Level: Medium

44. The most commonly used level of statistical significant is ______.

A. p < .01

B. p < .05

C. p < .10

D. p > .01

Difficulty Level: Hard

45. The process of introducing a third variable into an analysis to better understand the bivariate (two-variable) relationship under consideration is called ______.

A. specification

B. χ² analysis

C. elaboration analysis

D. correlational analysis

Difficulty Level: Medium

46. A correlation coefficient varies from ______.

A. −1 to 1

B. 0 to 1

C. 1-10

D. −1 to 0

Difficulty Level: Medium

47. The quantitative analysis of findings from multiple studies is known as ______.

A. correlational analysis

B. statistical synthesis

C. meta-analysis

D. monotonic analysis

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. Data cleaning is most important when downloading secondary data files.

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Precoding refers to assigning numeric codes to response categories on a survey prior to letting respondents complete the survey.

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Three features of a shape are important in a univariate distribution: mean, median, and mode.

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. A frequency polygon displays number and percentage of cases per cell in a table.

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. The beginning point of axes on graphs should be zero unless clearly marked.

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. In bar charts and histograms, bars should be of unequal width to facilitate comparing between categories.

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. If a variable contains more than 20 potential categories, it should be grouped in a frequency distribution.

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. A combined frequency display eliminates unnecessary percentages, such as those corresponding to the second value of a dichotomous variable.

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. A unimodal distribution has a single value that is selected most often.

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. The median is the arithmetic average of the values on a given variable.

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. The median is not affected by skewness of a variable's distribution.

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. The median is most suited to measure the central tendency of variables measured at the ordinal level, but it can be used at the interval and ratio levels as well.

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. The mean is the most commonly used measure of central tendency for quantitative variables.

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. Range is computed by subtracting the highest value from the lowest value and adding 1.

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Researchers usually evaluate skewness by eyeballing the distribution.

Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay

1. Describe circumstances in which mean, median, and mode are best used as measures of central tendency, providing at least two concrete examples for each.

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. Describe situations in which a variable's variability is best measured by the range, interquartile range, and standard deviation, providing at least two concrete examples of each.

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. In what circumstances should data be grouped in frequency distributions? How does one determine which groups should be used?

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. How are the properties of a normal curve important for analyzing data?

Difficulty Level: Hard

5. Explain the logic and components of regression analysis. What is the purpose of the correlation coefficient? A scatterplot?

Difficulty Level: Hard

6. Name at least three circumstances in which it is appropriate to add a third variable into a cross-tabulation. Why would you do each? What features of the bivariate relationship could be demonstrated using a three-variable crosstab?

Difficulty Level: Hard

7. Compute three measures of central tendency and two measures of variability for the following data set: When asked their age, 10 college students responded: 21, 19, 20, 18, 18, 19, 33, 22, 19, and 18. Given this distribution, which measures of central tendency and variability are most appropriate? Explain your decision, drawing a graph or creating a frequency distribution as necessary.

Difficulty Level: Hard

8. When using primary data, what steps must be taken to ensure that the data quality is high, both during data entry and during data cleaning stages? What technologies facilitate both?

Difficulty Level: Hard

9. How can statistics be unethically manipulated? Outline the specific ethical considerations associated with using statistics for social data analysis.

Difficulty Level: Hard

10. Consider the use of bar charts, histograms, and frequency polygons. When are each appropriate? Sketch each type of graph. What standards exist for presenting graphic data in social research?

Difficulty Level: Hard