Deck 15: The General Linear Model and Making Sense of Advanced Statistical Procedures in Research Articles

Question 1

The degree of association between two variables,over and above the influence of one or more other variables,is

A)path analysis.
B)reliability.
C)partial correlation.
D)factor analysis.

Answer 1

partial correlation.

Question 2

In the formula Y = a + (b₁)(X₁)+ (b₂)(X₂)+ e,the term "b1" refers to

A)the fixed influence that applies to all individuals.
B)the sum of influence of all variables on the first criterion variable.
C)the degree of influence of the first predictor variable on the criterion variable.
D)the degree of error associated with the first predictor variable.

Answer 2

the degree of influence of the first predictor variable on the criterion variable.

Question 3

The "least-squares criterion" sets the a's and b's in the general linear model so that

A)the sum of e² over all participants is 0.
B)the sum of e² over all participants is 1.
C)the sum of e² over all participants is as low as possible.
D)the sum of e² over all participants is as high as possible.

Answer 3

the sum of e² over all participants is as low as possible.

Question 4

An educational psychologist who gives the same test twice to the same people to check the accuracy of the test is assessing

A)a model's fit.
B)test-retest reliability.
C)split-half reliability.
D)interrater reliability.

Question 5

An advanced type of regression analysis that handles research situations in which people are grouped in some way that could affect the pattern of scores is

A)multilevel modeling.
B)multiple regression.
C)partial correlation.
D)factor analysis.

Question 6

A general formula whose underlying logic connects t tests,analysis of variance,correlation,and multiple regression is the

A)nonparametric model.
B)general linear model.
C)factorial model.
D)general factor analytic model.

Question 7

Cronbach's alpha can be thought of as

A)the average of the correlations between two halves of a test based on every possible split of the items into two halves.
B)the average of the largest and smallest correlations among test items.
C)the square root of the standardized path coefficient.
D)the standardized path coefficient squared.

Question 8

Test reliabilities are most likely to be discussed in research articles when

A)a new measure is developed.
B)results of the study are significant.
C)reporting results of a chi-square test.
D)background variables,such as age and sex,are being considered.

Question 9

The t test can be derived from all of the following EXCEPT

A)multiple regression.
B)the Z test.
C)bivariate correlation.
D)the analysis of variance.

Question 10

A social psychologist who correlates the responses of half of the items on a questionnaire with the other half to check the accuracy of the measure is assessing

A)a model's fit.
B)test-retest reliability.
C)split-half reliability.
D)interrater reliability.

Question 11

When ratings are made on a nominal scale,interrater reliability should be assessed using

A)a Pearson correlation.
B)Spearman's rho.
C)Cohen's kappa.
D)Cronbach's alpha.

Question 12

The variables about the grouping as a whole in a multilevel model are

A)upper-level variables.
B)middle-level variables.
C)lower-level variables.
D)criterion-level variables.

Question 13

The variables about the people or observations within each grouping in a multilevel model are

A)upper-level variables.
B)middle-level variables.
C)lower-level variables.
D)criterion-level variables.

Question 14

The formula Ŷ = a + (b₁)(X₁)+ (b₂)(X₂)+ (b₃)(X₃)is the formula for

A)multiple regression.
B)the analysis of variance.
C)bivariate correlation.
D)the t test.

Question 15

An investigator wants to know the relation between burden and mastery over and above any possible effects of depression.The procedure the investigator would use is

A)bivariate correlation.
B)partial correlation.
C)factor loading.
D)factor analysis.

Question 16

If a measure has low reliability,the correlation between it and any other variable will typically be

A)enlarged.
B)reduced.
C)enlarged if the correlation is positive and reduced if the correlation is negative.
D)reduced if the correlation is positive and enlarged if the correlation is negative.

Question 17

A test would be considered most useful when its reliability is

A)less than .10
B)less than .40
C)greater than .60
D)greater than .90

Question 18

The general linear model is called a "linear model" because

A)a single-tracked line of reasoning drives the analysis.
B)the model makes predictions based on the intersection of two or more linear trends.
C)the computations rely on a curvilinear formula.
D)there are no squared (or higher power)terms in the equation.

Question 19

The difference among means of groups is ordinarily tested by

A)multiple correlations and multiple regressions.
B)multiple regressions and bivariate predictions.
C)analysis of variance and t tests.
D)t tests and bivariate correlations.

Question 20

In the general linear model,errors in predictions are caused by

A)influences of measured predictor variables.
B)influences not measured by any of the predictor variables.
C)some fixed influence that is the same for all individuals.
D)correlations among the predictor variables.

Question 21

The purpose of a mediational analysis is to examine whether a presumed causal relationship between two variables

A)is due to some intervening variable.
B)is different according to the level of some additional variable.
C)is caused by some third variable.
D)might be causal in the opposite direction from the initial assumption.

Question 22

A covariate is best described as

A)a dependent variable that is correlated with the independent variables.
B)a variable that is controlled or partialed out.
C)a variable that is thought to be an effect of all other variables measured.
D)a variable that does not seem to have any effect on the others.

Question 23

A limitation of causal modeling is that

A)even when all predicted paths are significant,there is an overall good fit,and the significance test is as expected,it is possible that there are other patterns of causality that work better.
B)only the cause is examined,and comparisons and linkages between the different variables are impossible.
C)it cannot be done very easily on a computer.
D)path diagrams are rarely accurate and often give a false picture,tending to suggest that the true linkages are among the measured variables,whereas they are usually among the latent variables.

Question 24

A developmental psychologist has administered a questionnaire to a large group of fathers to see how frequently they participate in each of 40 activities with their children.The psychologist wants to know if there are some activities that can be grouped together such that if a father does one activity,he is likely to do the other,but in which there is little association with activities in other groupings.The appropriate procedure is

A)partial correlation.
B)analysis of covariance.
C)factor analysis.
D)path analysis.

Question 25

The difference between ANCOVA and MANCOVA is that

A)with a MANCOVA,variables can be partialed out; with an ANCOVA,they cannot.
B)with an ANCOVA,variables can be partialed out; with a MANCOVA,they cannot.
C)a MANCOVA can have more than one dependent variable; an ANCOVA cannot.
D)a MANCOVA can have more than one independent variable; an ANCOVA cannot.

Question 26

The final step of a mediational analysis tests whether the association of X and Y

A)increases when the mediator is taken into account.
B)decreases when the mediator is taken into account.
C)is larger than the association of X with the mediational variable.
D)is smaller than the association of X with the mediational variable.

Question 27

Hierarchical linear modeling is a common name for

A)path analysis.
B)factor analysis.
C)multilevel modeling.
D)structural equation modeling.

Question 28

A technique that uses a path diagram with arrows between variables,but that has some advantages over path analysis is

A)partial correlation.
B)multiple regression.
C)factor analysis.
D)structural equation modeling.

Question 29

A social psychologist has found 20 different variables that seem to affect willingness to take risks and wants to simplify these results by grouping them.The appropriate procedure is

A)partial correlation.
B)test-retest reliability.
C)factor analysis.
D)multivariate analysis of variance.

Question 30

If an educational psychologist studying the effect of three different teaching programs on students' learning wants to eliminate the effect of initial differences in learning ability among the students,the psychologist should use

A)multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).
B)analysis of variance (ANOVA).
C)analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
D)test-retest reliability.

Question 31

In structural equation modeling,

A)for most fit indexes,the closer to -1,the better the fit.
B)on the RMSEA,the closer to 0,the better the fit.
C)a significant result means a better fit than a nonsignificant result.
D)for most fit indexes,the closer to 0,the better the fit.

Question 32

If an investigator wants to be able to include more than one independent variable,more than one dependent variable,and wants to partial out a variable,the appropriate procedure is

A)factor analysis.
B)analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
C)multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).
D)multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).

Question 33

When reading a research article based on an unfamiliar statistical procedure,a basic understanding may be obtained by

A)seeking some indication of the q coefficient or,if that is not available,some indication of power.
B)identifying the significance level and the effect size.
C)following the path diagram or contingency table,depending on the level of measurement of the variables involved.
D)plotting the regression line.

Question 34

A significant MANCOVA is usually followed up with

A)ordinary t tests.
B)partial correlations.
C)one-way ANOVAs.
D)univariate ANCOVAs.

Question 35

The goal of path analysis is

A)to group variables.
B)to eliminate unnecessary variables.
C)to arrange variables from most to least influential.
D)to examine the causal structure of a group of variables.

Question 36

If the results of a study are presented as a diagram with arrows connecting variables,the analysis is

A)factor analysis.
B)partial correlation.
C)path analysis.
D)multiple regression.

Question 37

If an investigator using structural equation modeling measures school status as a combination of GPA,number of activities,and involvement in school government,school status is a

A)latent variable.
B)manifest variable.
C)measurement variable.
D)causal variable.

Question 38

An advantage of structural equation modeling over ordinary path analysis is that structural equation modeling

A)does not require significance tests.
B)analyzes the links among latent variables.
C)analyzes the links among measured variables.
D)can handle equal-interval variables.

Question 39

The difference between MANCOVA and MANOVA is that

A)a MANCOVA can have more than one dependent variable; a MANOVA cannot.
B)a MANCOVA can be done with a computer; a MANOVA cannot.
C)with a MANCOVA,variables can be partialed out.
D)with a MANOVA,variables can be partialed out.

Question 40

The association of a variable to a factor is called the variable's

A)factor analysis.
B)factor loading.
C)partial factor.
D)path factor.

Question 41

To be considered part of a factor,a variable should have a loading greater than __________.

Question 42

In a multilevel model,Level-1 variables reflect __________.

Question 43

A factor loading is the correlation of a factor with a(n)__________.

Question 44

An experimenter hypothesizes that if X is a cause,Y is an effect,and the relation is mediated by M.If this logic is correct,then one aspect of the analysis implies that __________ should predict Y,even after controlling for __________.(Give letters.)

Question 45

If a psychologist is concerned that when people take a test of knowledge-like a vocabulary test-for the second time that their performance is likely to be different because of having taken the test once,the psychologist is assessing __________.

Question 46

Many of the major procedures presented in this text are mathematically equivalent because they share the same central logic,a mathematical formula statisticians call the __________.

Question 47

Of the four major statistical procedures discussed in this book,the most general technique is __________.

Question 48

The most widely used measure of reliability,which is equivalent to the average of the split-half correlations from all possible splits into halves of the items on a test,is __________.

Question 49

In a multilevel model,Level-2 variables reflect __________.

Question 50

An unmeasured theoretical variable assumed to be the underlying cause of several variables that are actually measured and used in the analysis is a(n)__________ variable.

Question 51

When raters use categories (e.g.,present v.absent)to assess participants' data,the appropriate reliability statistic is __________.

Question 52

Path analysis,mediational analysis,and structural equation modeling can be grouped together,and are all variations of __________.

Question 53

An advanced type of regression analysis that handles research situations in which people are grouped in some way that could affect the pattern of scores is __________.

Question 54

In a path analysis,the degree of relation of the variables at the two ends of the arrow in the context of the entire causal model is shown by the __________.

Question 55

For the __________,.05 is considered a very good fit.(Spell out,do not use the abbreviated term.)

Question 56

An exploratory statistical procedure used to identify groupings of variables correlating maximally with each other and minimally with variables in the other groupings is __________.

Question 57

The general linear model is based on a __________ criterion.

Question 58

In structural equation modeling,a __________ chi-square test indicates that the model is a poor fit.

Question 59

A procedure for finding the correlation between two variables,over and above the influence of one or more other variables,is __________.

Question 60

If a psychologist is concerned about getting different results depending on the way a test is divided in half,the psychologist is assessing __________.

Question 61

A multivariate statistical technique is a statistical procedure involving more than one __________.

Question 62

In a MANOVA,__________ is the statistic computed when hypothesis testing.

Question 63

A variable partialed out in an ANCOVA is called a(n)__________.

Question 64

ANOVA is to MANOVA as ANCOVA is to __________.(Spell out,do not use the abbreviated term.)