Stats worksheet 1
Name___________________________________
1. Name the variable category: N = nominal O = ordinal I = interval
_____Marital status
_____Age
_____Attitude Measure using Likert type items
_____Number of dropouts
_____Ethnicity
_____2. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a good research topic for this class?
a. The topic has theoretical or practical significance.
b. The topic can be investigated through the collection and analysis of data.
c. The topic can be investigated within a year.
d. The topic of research is ethical.
_____3. Juan is an instructional design student. He needs a thesis topic. He is interested in the use of
discussion boards for distance education. He approaches his advisor and the advisor sends him away to
think some more. Of the following, what is the most likely reason?
a.
b.
c.
d.
The topic is not ethical
The topic is too narrow
The topic is too broad
The topic is not significant
_____4. The first step in identifying a topic is to:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Go to the library and hand-search the journals
Read as many empirical studies as you can
Select something of interest to you
Ask your advisor or colleagues for ideas
____5. If you operationalize a variable, you are doing what to the variable?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Manipulating it
Controlling it
Defining it
Mediating it
______6. The measure of central tendency appropriate for nominal data is (choose all that apply)
a.
b.
c.
d.
Mode
Standard deviation
Mean
Median
______7. The measure of central tendency appropriate for ordinal data is (choose all that apply)
a.
b.
c.
d.
Mode
Standard deviation
Mean
Median
______8. The measure of central tendency appropriate for interval data is (choose all that apply)
a.
b.
c.
d.
Mode
Standard deviation
Mean
Median
_____9. Which of the following is a measure of variability
a.
b.
c.
d.
Mode
Standard deviation
Mean
Median
_____10. What is the mode of the following distribution:
1
2
4
4
5
5
5
6
6
8
9
11. Using EXCEL, find the mean, mode, median, range, standard deviation of the following sets of data:
Set A: 6, 7, 5, 12, 11, 9, 9, 7, 6, 10, 6
Mean_______
Range_______
Mode_______
S.D._________
Median_______
Set B: 72, 89, 91, 90, 100, 68, 80, 76, 78, 94, 94, 90, 84, 86, 88, 87, 92, 96, 74, 93
Mean_______
Range_______
Mode_______
S.D._________
Median_______
Which of the two sets has less variability? Support your response. (Briefly)
12. Do you think a sample with a mean of 15 and median of 22 is normally distributed? Why or why
not?
13. Why is a z score NOT a descriptive statistic?
_____14. To convert a raw score to a z score, one needs the following information
a. raw score and mean
b. raw score and standard deviation
c. mean and standard deviation
d. raw score, mean and standard deviation
15. Malinda received a raw score of 47. Given the test had a mean of 52, a median of 52, and a
standard deviation of 3, what is Malinda’s z score? What is her percentile rank?
On that same test, Jeff received a raw score of 59. What is his z score and percentile rank? How
does his percentile score compare with Malinda’s?
_____16. Suzanne reported a correlation between reading ability and math grades of r = .90 in the first
grade. This correlation indicates that in Suzanne’s study
a. reading ability is strongly related to math grades
b. reading and math grades are independent
c. reading ability and math grades are mutually exclusive
d. reading ability and math grades are moderately related
_____17. A strong negative correlation coefficient indicates that
a. two variables are not related
b. two variables are inversely related
c. there has been measurement error
d. there has been calculation error
18. Make a scatterplot with a line of best fit and find the correlation coefficient for the following set
of data that compares the score and flight time for seven divers completing a reverse halfsomersault.
a. Are the two variables related?
b. How confident are you that the findings are not due to chance?
Score
7.5
8.3
7.6
6.8
7.4
7.5
6.5
Time (s)
.45
.45
.45
.40
.41
.40
.46
19. Here’s one more correlation set. Are students’ SAT Verbal Scores related to their SAT Math Scores?
Make a scatterplot, line of best fit and the correlation coefficient. Also interpret your findings and tell
me how sure you are that the findings are not a result of chance.
SAT
SAT
Verbal Math
633
334
665
375
525
300
479
350
660
346
629
345
579
378
591
398
718
368
633
309
435
589
388
678
379
601
315
545
303
667
349
556
421
629
388
677
299
589
348
700