Question 1

A graph of the means for different conditions in a study where the bar height represents the size of the mean is called a ______.

Accepted Answer

A graph that represents the means of different conditions with bar heights is most commonly called a bar graph.

Question 2

The null hypothesis is the opposite hypothesis to the scientific or alternative hypothesis.

Accepted Answer

The null hypothesis is the statistical hypothesis that there is no significant difference between specified populations, any observed difference being due to sampling or experimental error. It is the opposite of the alternative or scientific hypothesis.

Question 3

High or low extreme scores pull the ______ toward the top or bottom of the distribution's range.

Accepted Answer

High or low extreme scores affect the mean because it is calculated by summing all scores and dividing by the number of scores, making it sensitive to extreme values. The range, mode, and median are less affected by extreme scores.

Question 4

Three basic measures are commonly used to indicate the central tendency of a distribution including all but ______.

Accepted Answer

Correlation is a measure of the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables, not a measure of central tendency. The other three options (mean, mode, and median) are all measures of central tendency.

Question 5

There are three main categories of descriptive statistics that help researchers summarize data including all but ______.

Accepted Answer

The three main categories of descriptive statistics are graphs/tables, central tendency, and variability. Hypotheses are not a category of descriptive statistics, but rather a component of inferential statistics.

Question 6

A graph of a distribution showing the frequency of each response in the distribution is called a ______.

Accepted Answer

A frequency distribution is specifically designed to display the frequency of responses in a distribution, making it the best choice for this scenario. A line graph is used to display trends over time, a scatterplot is used to display the relationship between two variables, and a bar graph is used to display categorical data.

Question 7

The measurement of the length of time to complete a task is called ______.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The measurement of the length of time...

Question 8

The number of scores that can vary in the calculation of a statistic is called the ______.

Accepted Answer

Degrees of freedom refers to the number of scores in a sample that are free to vary once the mean of the sample is known. In other words, it represents the number of scores in a sample that are independent and not influenced by any other scores. It is a crucial concept in statistical analysis as it determines the appropriate level of significance and critical values to use in hypothesis testing.

Question 9

A graph of the means for different conditions in a study where the bar length represents the size of the mean is a bar graph.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A graph of the means for different...

Question 10

The ______ is the most commonly reported measure of central tendency.

Accepted Answer

The mean is the most commonly reported measure of central tendency because it takes into account all values in the data set, which provides a more accurate representation of the data compared to the mode or median. The range is a measure of variability, not central tendency.

Question 11

The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution is the ______.

Accepted Answer

The range is a measure of variability in a distribution and is calculated by subtracting the lowest score from the highest score. The mean, median, and mode are measures of central tendency.

Question 12

The ______ ignores all the scores between the most extreme scores and therefore is a crude measure of variability.

Accepted Answer

The range, which is the difference between the highest and lowest score, is a crude measure of variability as it ignores all the other scores between these extremes. It provides a basic understanding of the spread of scores, but it does not take into account the distribution of the scores or how densely they are clustered. The mean, standard deviation, and variance are all more accurate measures of variability.

Question 13

The ______ is the most basic measure.

Accepted Answer

The most basic measure is the range, which is simply the difference between the highest and lowest values in a data set. The mean (A) is a measure of central tendency, the standard deviation (C) measures the spread of data around the mean, and the variance (D) is a measure of how much the data deviates from the mean. While these are all important measures in statistics, the range is the simplest and most straightforward.

Question 14

A graph of the means for different conditions in a study where each mean is graphed as a point and the points are connected in a line to show differences between mean scores is called a ______.

Accepted Answer

A line graph would be the most appropriate option to display means for different conditions in a study. A line graph connects the means with a line, making it easy to visualize the differences between mean scores. A frequency distribution is used to display the distribution of scores for a single variable, a scatterplot is used to display the relationship between two variables, and a bar graph is used to display the frequency or proportion of categorical data.

Question 15

In simple terms the null hypothesis is that a relationship ______ in the study population.

Accepted Answer

The null hypothesis states that there is no relationship between the variables being tested. It does not suggest anything about the strength or significance of any observed relationship, nor does it imply that the topic does not merit review.

Question 16

"In the general population, older individuals have lower memory scores than younger individuals." is a ______ hypothesis.

Accepted Answer

This is a one-tailed hypothesis because it predicts the direction of the difference between older and younger individuals' memory scores (specifically, that older individuals will have lower scores). Null hypotheses do not make predictions about the direction of differences, and two-tailed hypotheses predict that there will be a difference but do not specify in which direction. The hypothesis is testable, as memory scores can be measured and compared between age groups.

Question 17

The ______ is determined by calculating the difference between each score and the mean, squaring those values, adding them up, and dividing by n-1.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The ______ is determined by calculating the...

Question 18

When a distribution includes several outliers, researchers often report the ______ in addition to or instead of the mean.

Accepted Answer

When a distribution includes several outliers, the median is a better measure of central tendency than the mean because it is less affected by extreme values.

Question 19

For correlational studies with a predictor and outcome, the predictor variable is typically plotted on the ______.

Accepted Answer

In correlational studies, the predictor variable (also known as the independent variable) is usually plotted on the x-axis because it is the variable that is hypothesized to influence or predict changes in the outcome variable (also known as the dependent variable) that is usually plotted on the y-axis.

Question 20

A graph showing the relationship between two dependent variables for a group of individuals is called a ______.

Accepted Answer

A scatterplot is specifically designed to show the relationship between two dependent variables for a group of individuals. A frequency distribution is used to show the distribution of a single variable. A line graph can be used to show the trend of a single variable over time, but it is not as effective for showing the relationship between two variables. A bar graph is also used to show the distribution of a single variable or to compare different groups, but it is not as effective for showing the relationship between two variables.

Quiz 7: Summarizing and Interpreting Data: Using Statistics