Identify each of the following as examples of nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio scales of measurement. (4 points each)

 

1. A poll of registered voters in Florida asking which candidate they support
2. The length of time required for a wound to heal when using a new medicine
3. The number of telephone calls arriving at a switchboard per five-minute period
4. The distance first-year college football players can kick a ball
5. Mental health diagnoses present in an elderly population
6. The rankings of employees on their job performance

 

 

 

Question 2. 2.

 

Two hundred raffle tickets are sold. Your friend has five people in her family who each bought two raffle tickets. What is the probability that someone from her family will win the raffle?

 

 

 

Question 3. 3. Jolie has 45 minutes to do her statistics homework. If the mean is 38 minutes and the standard deviation is 3, calculate Jolie’s z score. Once calculated, interpret your findings in terms of Jolie’s performance.
(HINT: use the normal distribution and the probability that other students performed better or worse.) (Points : 8)

 

 

 

Question 4. 4. A psychologist measures units of change for a memory test after students are given an opportunity to sleep only four hours. The following change units were obtained: 7, -12, 4, -7, 3, -10. Find the a) mean, b) median, c) mode, d) standard deviation, e) range, and f) variance. (Points : 24)

 

 

Question 5. 5. A student scored 81 on a chemistry test and 75 on a history test. For the chemistry test, the mean was 70 and the standard deviation was 20. For the history test, the mean was 65 and the standard deviation was 8. Did the student do better on the chemistry test or the history test? Explain your answer. (Points : 12)

 

 

 

Question 6. 6. Suppose you want to figure out what to do with your degree in psychology. You ask some fellow students from your psychology program who recently graduated to find out what they are doing with their degree and how much it pays. What type of sampling is this? What are the limitations of this sampling approach? (Points : 8)

 

 

 

Question 7. 7. Variables in which the values are categories are known as (Points : 4) Interval variables Nominal variables Ordinal variables Ratio variables

 

 

 

Question 8. 8. Before the researcher can conduct a statistical test, the research question must be translated into (Points : 4) A testable hypothesis Additional observations Mathematical symbols Numbers

 

 

 

Question 9. 9. The hypothesis stating that there are no differences, effects, or relationships is (Points : 4) The alternative hypothesis The baseline hypothesis The null hypothesis The reasonable hypothesis

 

 

 

Question 10. 10. A group of students made the following scores on a 10-item quiz in psychological statistics: {5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10} What is the mean score? (Points : 4) 6.6 7.2 7.8 8.7

 

 

 

Question 11. 11. A group of students made the following scores on a 10-item quiz in psychological statistics: {5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10} What is the median score? (Points : 4) 6 7 8 9

 

 

 

Question 12. 12. A group of students made the following scores on a 10-item quiz in psychological statistics: {5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10} What is the mode? (Points : 4) 5 7 8 9

 

 

 

Question 13. 13. A group of students made the following scores on a 10-item quiz in psychological statistics: {5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10} What is the range of scores? (Points : 4) 5 6 7 11

 

 

 

Question 14. 14. A group of students made the following scores on a 10-item quiz in psychological statistics: {5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10} What is the variance, treating these scores as a sample? (Points : 4) 1.53 1.60 2.33 2.56

 

 

 

Question 15. 15. The standard normal distribution has all the following properties EXCEPT: (Points : 4) The mean, mode, and median are all equal The total area under the curve equals 1 The curve is specified by two parameters, the mean and the standard deviation The curve extends to + and – 3 standard deviations from the mean

 

 

 

Question 16. 16. According to the Empirical Rule, approximately _______% of the data in a normal distribution will fall within ±1 standard deviation of the mean. (Points : 4) 34 68 95 99.7

 

 

 

Question 17. 17. In statistical computations, the number of values that are free to vary is known as (Points : 4) Degrees of freedom Freedom factor Variability index Variation quotient

 

 

 

Question 18. 18. Which of the following reflects a Type I error? (Points : 4) Rejecting the null hypothesis when in reality the null hypothesis is true Rejecting the null hypothesis when in reality the null hypothesis is false Accepting the null hypothesis when in reality the null hypothesis is true Accepting the null hypothesis when in reality the null hypothesis is false

 

 

 

Question 19. 19. Which type of sampling is used when the experimenter asks 5 area doctors to refer pregnant women to his study and accepts all women who offer to be in his study? (Points : 4) purposive sampling convenience sampling cluster sampling stratified sampling

 

 

 

Question 20. 20. In our statistics equations, n refers to: (Points : 4) mean standard deviation normal distribution number of subjects

 

 

 

Question 21. 21. Which of the following is true regarding alpha? (Points : 4) it is also known as the level of significance value is set by the researcher value is equal to the probability of a type I error all of the above are true

 

 

 

Question 22. 22. Macy proposes that boys who play sports are viewed as more attractive than boys who do not play sports. What is her null hypothesis? (Points : 4) Boys who play sports are not viewed as more attractive than boys who do not play sports Playing sports will influence how attractively boys are viewed Boys who play sports are more attractive than girls who play sports There can be no null hypothesis

 

 

 

Question 23. 23. You calculate a t of 2.38 and note that the tabled value for .01 is 3.22 and for .05 is 2.19. You would conclude that the null hypothesis can be: (Points : 4) Accepted at the .05 level Rejected at the .01 level Rejected at the .05 level None of the above

 

 

 

Question 24. 24. A researcher is studying political conservatism among 11 engineering students and 11 humanities students. The number of degrees of freedom for a t test is: (Points : 4) 22 20 11 10

 

 

 

Question 25. 25. A t test for dependent groups should be used instead of a t test for independent samples: (Points : 4) If each participant is measured twice Whenever there are equal numbers of subjects in each group Whenever there are only two groups All of the above

 

 

 

Question 26. 26. In a normal distribution, what percent of the population falls within one and two standard deviations of the mean? (Points : 4) 34% 68% 95% cannot tell from the information given

 

 

 

Question 27. 27. Which of the following is more affected by extreme scores? (Points : 4) Mode Mean Median None of the above are affected

 

 

 

Question 28. 28. On a histogram, what does the vertical (y) axis refer to? (Points : 4) Individual scores Frequencies Means Deviation scores

 

 

 

Question 29. 29. Which statistic refers to the average amount by which the scores in the sample deviate from the mean? (Points : 4) Range Standard deviation Median Mode

 

 

 

Question 30. 30. Assume a normal distribution for N = 300. How many cases would one expect to find between +1 and -1 standard deviations around the mean? (Points : 4) 102 285 150 204

 

 

 

Question 31. 31. A z score of zero tells us that the score is at the________of the distribution. (Points : 4) Mean Very top Very bottom None of the above since z cannot be zero

 

 

 

Question 32. 32. In a unit normal curve, what goes on the x axis? (Points : 4) Frequencies Observed scores z scores Area

 

 

 

33. Question : Which of the following is a measure of variability?

Student Answer:  Mean  Range  Interval  All of the above

Points Received: 4 of 4 Comments:

 

 

 

34. Question : The only measure of central tendency that can be found for nominal data is the

Student Answer:  Mean  Median  Mode  Midrange

Points Received: 4 of 4 Comments:

 

 

 

35. Question : If the probability of event A is 0.45 and the probability of event B is 0.35 and the probability of A and B occurring together is 0.25, then the probability of A OR B is:

Student Answer:  0.8  1.8  0.1575  0.55

Points Received: 4 of 4 Comments:

 

 

 

36. Question : A researcher knows that the average distance commuting students live from campus was previously 8.2 miles. Because of the rising prices of gasoline, the research wants to test the claim that commuting students now live closer to campus. What is the correct alternative hypothesis?

Student Answer:  The new mean distance is 8.2 miles.  The new mean distance is less than or equal to 8.2 miles.  The new mean distance is less than 8.2 miles.  The new mean distance is greater than or equal to 8.2 miles.

Points Received: 4 of 4 Comments:

 

PSY-260 Introduction to Psychological Research and Ethics

From Journal to Journalism: Analyzing popular descriptions of psychology or psychological research

For this assignment, you will find and analyze an example of popular press coverage of psychological research. You will find examples of psychological claims in advertising, magazines, the newspaper, or the Internet. Begin looking for examples now, as it may take some time to locate the perfect example. The popular source you choose has to include a psychological claim, and discuss it in some detail. You’ll have the most fun with a popular source that makes a causal claim, because you can then analyze whether the causal claim is warranted by actual experimental research. This assignment addresses the most fundamental goal of this class—becoming a better consumer of information. You will also practice your PsycINFO and APA style skills.

Your assignment is to intelligently critique the claim of the popular press coverage by using a psychology research article. Your overall goal is to use your research methods skills to answer this larger question: Is this popular source’s claim an accurate representation of the original article, or is it misleading to people? 

You will need to find an article that mentions an author, institution, journal, etc., so that you can find the original article on which the popular coverage is based. Read the original source and evaluate the quality of the popular coverage. Did the journalist accurately describe the research? Did the journalist offer some advice on the basis of the study (e.g., “based on this study, you should go bungee jumping in the winter, not the summer!”)? If so, is the advice correct, or is it based on some misinterpretations of the study? For example, many journalists or advertisers may report a correlational study, but then give advice based upon the misinterpretation that correlation equals causation, which it does not (e.g., “kids who take piano lessons do better in school! So sign your kid up now!”). Or they may not report that the study was based upon a very particular population (e.g., rats), and, therefore, may not be applicable for their readers (e.g., teenagers).

You will turn in three parts:

1. a copy of the popular source,
2. a copy or PERMALINK of the psychological article you used , and
3. a 750-1,000-word typed report that analyzes the journalism article and the original article.

Your report should have the following components, in this order. Please use headings to separate the different sections.

• A short summary of the journalist’s story, and a short introduction to the paper’s topic and this assignment.      Identify and classify any claims

(frequency, association, causal) that the journalist makes in a headline or in the body of the text.

• A short summary of key aspects of the original journal article: Was the study correlational or experimental?   What were the main variables? What was the key finding or findings? What theory do the findings support?
• An analysis of how well the journalist covered the journal article. In this section, try to make at least three significant points
  • What did the journalist get right?
  • What did the journalist get wrong,  and why?
  • What might the journalist have said differently?
  • Were any causal claims made by the journalist accurate? (Apply the three causal rules!)
  • Did the journalist focus on the same key finding as the scientists did?
  • Did the journalist accurately describe the procedures of the study?
  • Did the journalist leave details out?
  • Rephrase or rewrite parts of the journalist’s article to be more accurate, if appropriate.
• Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student  Success Center. Include a properly formatted reference page and in-text citations.
• This assignment uses a scoring guide.   Please review the scoring guide prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.