Deck 3: Selecting a Statistic to Answer Your Research Question

Question 1

Your county Social Services Agency is evaluating its mental health program to examine the improvement in the life satisfaction of a group of clients participating in a 10-week Animal Assisted Group Therapy program. The data for this study require:

A) the mean score for the well-being scale that was administered before the animal-assisted therapy was administered and the mean score for the well-being scale at the end of the therapy
B) only the pretest score on the well-being scale
C) only the posttest score on the well-being scale
D) only the number of sessions of animal-assisted therapy

Answer 1

A

Question 2

An evaluative study in which before and after data are compared requires:

A) the level of association between the independent and the dependent variable
B) the calculation of a statistic that tells whether there was improvement that cannot easily be explained by chance.
C) the number of participants
D) the number of professionals offering the treatment

Answer 2

B

Question 3

In evaluative studies that measure the impact of a service on a group of individuals, it is important to collect data on:

A) only the group that is participating in the treatment
B) each individual participating in the treatment
C) the agency that offers the service
D) the agency that funded the service

Answer 3

B

Question 4

A t Test that is helpful in comparing a set of scores on a variable measured at the interval level, to a single score that serves as a threshold of functioning is:

A) the independent samples t Test
B) t Test for paired data
C) one-sample t Test
D) anova

Question 5

A statement that higher the number of therapy sessions attended, greater will be the scores on self-esteem is:

A) a description of the sample
B) a directional statement
C) a non-directional hypothesis
D) a directional hypothesis

Question 6

Descriptive analysis is concerned with:

A) establishing statistical significance
B) establishing funding priorities
C) describing the people in your study
D) reporting the sentiments of the subjects beyond the scope of the study

Question 7

When you study a sample of subjects and make inferences to a larger population for whom you hold the results of your study to be relevant, you are engaging in:

A) descriptive research
B) evaluative research
C) explanatory research
D) evaluative and explanatory research

Question 8

When you are analyzing data for a descriptive study:

A) you will examine many variables at once
B) you will examine one variable at a time
C) you will combine variables to compute a score
D) you will transform variables to create an interval level variable

Question 9

Any of the statistics that can be used for the nominal level can be used for the ordinal level of measurement when relevant, in addition to:

A) mode
B) median
C) Range
D) median and range

Question 10

Frequencies and proportions can be used for:

A) summarizing
B) describing
C) summarizing and describing
D) inferring

Question 11

Whenever feasible, the process of evaluation of the human services involves the use of two groups. The assignment and the use of the two groups generally include:

A) comparing the gain scores of a group of clients who received the treatment/service at one time with another group that received the treatment/service in a different agency 10 years ago
B) comparing the pretest and posttest scores of a group of people before and after the treatment/service
C) comparing the pretest and posttest scores of a group of people who did not receive the service/treatment
D) comparing the gain scores of a group of clients who received the treatment/service with the scores of a group of clients who did not receive the treatment/ service

Question 12

A good way to describe a null hypothesis is that:

A) there will be a difference between scores or correlations among your variables
B) there will not be a difference between scores among your variables
C) it states that the descriptive summary of the sample would be sufficient to show the relationship between your variables
D) it states that there will be a statistically significant difference between scores or correlations among your variables

Question 13

In articulating the outcome objective of the evaluation process it is useful to distinguish between:

A) concepts related to service process
B) concepts related to client outcome
C) concepts related to service process and client outcome
D) concepts related to the delivery of a service only

Question 14

A statement such as, "We will be inclusive and respectful of client needs in the delivery of human services" is an example of:

A) an outcome statement
B) a process statement
C) a process and an outcome statement
D) neither a process nor an outcome statement

Question 15

A statement such as, "The client's anxiety level will be reduced as measured by the scores on the chosen anxiety scale" is an example of:

A) a goal statement
B) a process statement
C) a process and an outcome statement
D) an outcome statement

Question 16

One of the ways in which the dependent variable of evaluative research studies can be characterized is:

A) it is the measure of the treatment provided
B) it is a measure of the quality of the treatment
C) it is a measure of the client outcome
D) it is a measure of the resources allocated

Question 17

Inferential statistics are used to describe a sample and apply it to a population even in the absence of a random sample.

Question 18

When you use inferential statistics, you are describing a social phenomenon.

Question 19

Reporting the mean age of the sample of your study is descriptive statistics.

Question 20

Questions such as whether your clients achieve a statistically significant improvement in the attribute/behavior that the study is attempting to show an improvement in-is the kind of question that requires the application of descriptive statistics.

Question 21

Nominal level of measurement involves placing subjects into categories that have order.

Question 22

Ordinal level of measurement involves placing subjects into categories that have order.

Question 23

In interval level of measurement, units of measurement are given a score or some other numerical value.

Question 24

For the human service professional, the essence of data analysis is the evaluation of client outcome.

Question 25

It is not important to articulate an outcome objective when conducting evaluative research.

Question 26

It is fair to say that a study hypothesis is a statement of the predicted outcome of the data analysis.

Question 27

Evaluation of human services is a complex and a methodical process which requires a series of questions that the researcher needs to answer before choosing a statistical test for analyzing the data.

Question 28

The author of your textbook recommends that you include all the dependent variables that you measure for your study in one hypothesis.

Question 29

It can be said when referring to the differences between the evaluative and the explanatory study, that an evaluative study merely attempts to explain variables by examining their relationship, while an explanatory study only examines the effectiveness of services.

Question 30

Provide an example to illustrate the difference between an evaluative study and the explanatory study.

Question 31

Explain the importance of knowing the research design that is to be employed an evaluating human service?

Question 32

Evaluation of human services is a complex and a methodical process which requires a series of questions that the researcher needs to answer before choosing a statistical test for analyzing the data. Report at least two important factors that need to be taken into consideration.

Question 33

Please explain your understanding of the importance of constructing the relevant research design for your study.