Question 1

A researcher interested in the effects of a single elementary school on the students who attend the school should use a multi-level modeling approach.

Accepted Answer

Multi-level modeling is appropriate for this scenario because it allows the researcher to account for the nested structure of the data (students nested within a school) and to analyze the effects of variables at both the student level and the school level on the outcome of interest.

Question 2

A researcher is interested in the development of mathematical skills in children.Which of the following methods would be useful for collecting panel data?

Accepted Answer

Panel data involves collecting data from the same subjects at multiple points in time. Option A, which suggests using math scores from a small group of students over a long period, fits this definition as it tracks the same individuals' progress over time.

Question 3

Which of the following approaches is the most useful in separating the characteristics that are similar from the characteristics that are different in similar groupings, such as couples?

Accepted Answer

D

Question 4

______ helps to separate the effects of time-invariant covariates from time-variant covariates.

Accepted Answer

Latent growth modeling is a statistical technique that helps to separate the effects of time-invariant covariates from time-variant covariates.

Question 5

A study examining a pair of twins who grew up in the same household would be an example of a fixed effects approach.

Accepted Answer

A fixed effects approach focuses on analyzing the differences within entities (such as individuals, firms, or countries) over time or under varying conditions, controlling for all unobserved, time-invariant characteristics. In the context of a study examining twins who grew up in the same household, the fixed effects approach would control for the shared environment and genetics, isolating the effect of any differing experiences or treatments they received.

Question 6

When conducting research on families it is common to ask multiple members of a family about the same experience or activity.However, which of the assumptions of multiple regression is violated in this situation?

Accepted Answer

The assumption violated is that all observations must be independent of each other. When asking multiple members of the same family about the same experience, their responses are likely to be correlated, thus violating the independence assumption of multiple regression.

Question 7

According to the text, researchers should try not to use data that are nested because they are too difficult to analyze statistically.

Accepted Answer

Nested data can be analyzed using specific statistical models designed for such data structures, like hierarchical linear models or mixed-effects models, which account for the nesting structure.

Question 8

______ data require researchers to follow the same individuals over a long period of time.

Accepted Answer

Panel data involve tracking the same individuals or entities over a period of time, allowing researchers to observe changes and trends.

Question 9

It is rare to find data that are nested in any way.

Accepted Answer

Nested data structures are common in various fields such as computer science, statistics, and data analysis, where data can be organized hierarchically or in complex, interconnected ways.

Question 10

Parents can be nested within families.

Accepted Answer

In data modeling and hierarchical structures, "parents" can be considered a subset or members of "families," thus they can be nested within families to represent relationships and structures.

Quiz 13: Advanced Topics in Family Data Analysis