Blatchley Chapter 01 Quiz

. In general, the field of Statistics is about the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ___________________.

anecdotal events

single data points

data or data sets

quotes

. Which of the following does not describe a dataset?

The number of siblings individuals have from a given population

Your parent's favorite genre of music

Annual amount of rainfall recorded over five decades

Points scored by different players in a basketball league

. What is statistics generally concerned with?

Collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting numerical data

Collecting data and interviewing participants

Designing experiments

Fabricating conclusions based on anecdotal evidence

. Descriptive statistics are used to...?

Characterize data sets

Make predictions

Observe nature

Organize ideas

. Which of the following best describes descriptive statistics?

It simplifies large amounts of information to smaller yet still informative pieces.

It describes the dataset in order to investigate how it compares to another set of data.

It is the main way that allows researchers and scientists to make predictions about the future.

Descriptive statistics uses only subcomponents of the data to make predictions about the rest of the dataset.

. Saying that approximately four out of 100 individuals will at some point in their lives endure mental illness is best described as a...

frequency

ratio

typical observation

none of the above

. Collecting data from every member of a population is highly impractical. Because of this, being able to make predictions from a sample is what makes _________________ statistics is valuable.

Ratio

Frequency

Descriptive

Inferential

. Which of the following is the best reason for using inferential statistics?

Samples are too hard to collect, so we generally rely on datasets of the whole population.

Descriptive statistics do not offer enough details about the sample.

In general, it is impractical to collect data from the whole population.

Inferential statistics offers the only way to describe what the data is like.

. A researcher is interested in how undergraduate college students engage in different aspects of their romantic relationships. In this case, the population is likely not to include...

individuals at public colleges

students in a private small liberal arts college

students in graduate school

Individuals studying abroad to pursue a bachelorâs degree

. Thomas is examining the effects of learning new motor skills, such as dancing, in older adults (i.e., those 65 and older). He collects a sample from a senior center nearby. In this case, adults over 65 are best categorized as the target _______________________.

population

descriptive statistics

sample

inference

. What is the purpose of collecting sample data?

Because you cannot collect data from a population

To compare differences between one population and another

To generalize to a population

To formulate inferences about the dataset

. Which of the following best describes the relationship between a population and sample?

Samples and populations are separate entities and have no relations

Samples should be drawn from the population

Samples inferences based on the population

Samples are data that is described by the population

. In a study, a scientist is investigating how stereotypes form and influence prejudicial behaviors in White Americans. In his data, he only has data from individuals who identify as Caucasian or White. Which of the following is the most accurate limitation of his data?

The researcher's conclusions can only be limited to this sample.

The researcher's conclusion cannot be easily generalized beyond Caucasian Americans.

The researcher's sample is not representative.

The researcher's sample is not racially or culturally diverse, which means that the sample is likely not well drawn from the population on interest.

. Which of the following best describes a representative sample?

A sample chosen at random from a specific geographic location

A sample that has characteristics that match with a specific group of interest

A sample that has the same number of men, women, and children

A sample that has the same size as the population

. Maria collects data from 20 infants, with hopes to better understand how they visualize objects and their ability to retain objects in working memory. Which of the following is not true?

The 20 infants serves as a sample that Maria has collected.

The 20 infants likely gave Maria a dataset.

The 20 infants is the target population.

Maria is can use both inferential and descriptive statistics in this case.

. What is the difference between a statistic and a parameter?

Statistics describe samples and parameters describe populations

Statistics describe populations and parameters describe populations

Statistics are descriptive but parameters are inferential

Statistics are inferential but parameters are descriptive

. Which of the following correctly describes a sample versus a population?

Samples are sometimes larger than the population, but not always.

Samples that are representative do not look like the population.

The population should include all members of a sample that is drawn.

The population is used to generalize to the sample.

. When a sample is not representative, which of the following is most likely true?

The sample cannot be accurately generalized to the population.

The sample characteristics is similar to that of the population.

The sample can be used to make accurate inferences about the population.

The sample is too large and contains disproportionate amounts of subgroups compared to others.

. Extraneous variables are generally...

foreseen before the experiment has been conducted.

unforeseen until after the experiment has started, but under the control of the researcher.

not something that was controlled before the beginning, and difficult to account for after the data has been collected.

A target variable that serves as the primary outcome of the research.

. What is the benefit of controlling and accounting for as many possible extraneous variables as possible, when conducting an experiment?

The sample would be more representative.

It would minimize the risk for error.

It would make the population parameter more accurate.

The population would be better able to make predictions about the sample.

.

Use this description to respond to questions 21 – 24

What is the relationship between violent video games and aggressive behavior? Josh conducted an experiment in which participants played violent or non-violent video games for 3 weeks. He believes that violent video games should increase tendencies to engage violently. They were then brought into the lab and responded to a survey about behaviors and the participant reported whether or not they engaged in a checklist of different violent behaviors, among other non-violent behaviors.

What is the independent variable(s)?

Whether or not the participant engaged in violent behavior

Whether the participant played violent video games

Whether the participant participated in the study

None of the above

. Was there a hypothesis? If so, what was it?

Playing violent videogames cause more violent behaviors

Playing violent videogames cause less violent behaviors

There was not a clear hypothesis

Playing violent video games caused more violent behaviors in men but not women

. What is the dependent variable?

Whether or not the participant participated

Whether or not the participant played violent video games

The number of hours the participant spent playing violent video games

The number of violent behaviors the participant engaged in after playing one of two types of video games

. How many levels of the independent variable are there and what are they?

2 levels: violent vs. non violent video games.

3 levels: violent, non violent, and no video games.

2 levels: the participant either participated or they did not.

1 level: video games.

. In an experiment, the research is generally testing whether or not the ____________ is right.

dependent variable

sample

hypothesis

error

Blatchley Chapter 01 Quiz

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