AP Psychology
Name_______________________
Statistics Application Practice
Learning Target: Identify and apply measures of central tendency in descriptive
statistics as well as measures of variance including standard deviation
Directions: Read each of the following scenarios. Using your knowledge of statistics
evaluate and make a recommendation for each situation.
Situations:
1. You have just taken your psychology and chemistry midterm exams. When your
psychology test is handed back you find that you received a score of 50. When your
chemistry test is handed back you find that you also received a score of 50. Given the
statistical information of each test, explain how your ‘50’ in each class can be
interpreted. All in all, did you do equally well in each course? If so, why? If not, explain
why not.
Assessment and distribution information
Test
Psychology
Chemistry
Mean
60
30
Mode
58
30
Median
56
30
Standard Deviation
5
10
Range
15
20
2. Psychological research methodologies and statistics are characterized by strengths
and weaknesses in investigating behavior. Each method or statistic is best suited for
certain research questions. For each pair below, describe a condition under which one
is more appropriate than the other
Mean, median
Longitudinal study, cross-sectional study
Single-Blind technique, double-blind technique
Survey, case study
Correlational study, experiment
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AP Psychology
Name_______________________
3. Dr. Weindenbach wants to know in general how well the students are doing in his
class. He also wants to know whether the students in his class are performing differently
as compared to each other on exams or if they are all generally performing similarly. He
knows that there is some variability in any class, but he suspects that this one is more
than 3 points (the equivalent of 2 letters grades on his 15 point quiz). He will create a
weekly study session for his students who are more than. He takes data from the first
exam of the semester, which is recorded below. Please compute the data and advise Dr.
Weindenbach on who should attend his study sessions (those who are more than two
standard deviations away from the mean on two or more quizzes).
Quiz Scores from class
Student Number
1
Quiz #1 Score
7
Quiz #2 Score
6
Quiz #3 Score
5
2
9
12
11
3
9
11
11
4
10
8
10
5
10
12
12
6
11
6
11
7
11
11
13
8
13
14
15
Calculate the Measures of Central Tendency:
Quiz #1
Quiz #2
Quiz #3
Range
Mean
Mode
Median
Variance
Standard
Deviation
Recommendation: (Which students should attend the study session?). Explain your
recommendation
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