Deck 7: Getting Started With SPSS and Descriptive Statistics

Question 1

It is important to limit your dataset so that only those observations that are contained within your _____ remain in your data set.

A) research group
B) sample
C) frequency
D) research population

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following is true concerning the standard deviation of a distribution?

A) A small standard deviation indicates a narrow clustering of values around a mean
B) A small standard deviation indicates a larger spread of values around the mean
C) A large standard deviation indicates a narrow clustering of values around the mean
D) A large standard deviation means that a lot of people answered a particular question.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following is an advantage in using a bar chart or a pie chart?

A) It creates a normal distribution
B) It allows readers to visually grasp the frequency of each response
C) It makes the data statistically significant
D) It can calculate summary statistics

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Frequency distributions must be used for variables with what type of measurement?

A) Ordinal
B) Nominal
C) Interval
D) Ratio

Question 5

Descriptive statistics investigate:

A) the amount of variation within each variable
B) relationships among variables
C) whether coefficients are significant
D) if a pie chart is more appropriate than a bar chart

Question 6

Quantitative data presented in a spreadsheet with information organized into rows and columns is called a:

A) codebook
B) distribution
C) book
D) dataset

Question 7

If the data for a variable is normally distributed, then:

A) roughly 50% of the observations for the variable should fall within one standard deviation on either side of the mean
B) none of the observations for the variable should fall within one standard deviation on either side of the mean
C) roughly 68% of the observations for the variable should fall within one standard deviation on either side of the mean
D) 100% of the observations for the variable should fall within one standard deviation on either side of the mean

Question 8

Data means:

A) knowledge
B) information
C) access
D) research

Question 9

Which of the following is an example of a summary statistic?

A) Minimum value
B) Significance level
C) Correlation coefficient
D) Inverse coefficient

Question 10

The study of information to produce a result or conclusion is known as:

A) data comprehension
B) data measurement
C) data research
D) data analysis

Question 11

What is the standard deviation?

A) The value that appears the most in a dataset
B) A measure for how the values in a variable are dispersed around the variable's mean
C) The lowest value in a dataset
D) The highest value in a dataset

Question 12

Which of the following is an example of changing a nominal variable into a binary variable?

A) Splitting political affiliation into Democrat, Republican, and Independent
B) Transforming political affiliation into a scale, 1 being Democrat and 10 being Republican
C) Splitting political affiliation into Democrat and Republican
D) Isolating only the Democrat category

Question 13

Which of the following lists the percentages of each code contained in a variable?

A) Data analysis
B) Frequency distribution
C) Regression analysis
D) Univariate analysis

Question 14

The mode is the:

A) value that appears the most in a dataset
B) average of all of the values in a dataset
C) lowest value in a dataset
D) standard deviation

Question 15

What is the best description of binary variable?

A) A measurement in which observations are placed into discrete categories
B) A type of variable with nominal measurement that contains only two categories
C) A nominal variable
D) A type of measurement whose ordering of values has meaning for understanding variation in a variable

Question 16

The following variable has what type of measurement?
$\begin{array}{ll}\text { No right to vote } & 1 \\\text { I would not vote } & 2 \\\text { I would cast a blank ballot } & 3 \\\text { None } & 4 \\\text { Other } & 5\end{array}$

A) Ordinal
B) Binary
C) Nominal
D) Ratio

Question 17

What is a good example of an ordinal variable?

A) Party affiliation
B) Biological sex
C) Year born
D) Life satisfaction on a scale from 1 to 10

Question 18

What type of descriptive statistics is most appropriate for an ordinal variable with less than five categories?

A) The average
B) A frequency distribution
C) Summary statistics
D) It is not possible to generate descriptive statistics for this type of variable

Question 19

What type of descriptive statistics is most appropriate for an ordinal variable with five or more categories?

A) A frequency distribution
B) Summary statistics
C) The mode
D) Data analysis

Question 20

Why is it important to understand the different types of measurement?

A) Because the measurement level of a variable influences what can be done with it quantitatively
B) Because some variables are better than others
C) Because knowing the extent of variation in each variable is important
D) Because researchers should only use certain types of variables