Deck 12: Basic Data Analysis for Quantitative Research

Question 1

What is the first step in analyzing quantitative data?

A) Determine if research involves descriptive analysis or hypothesis testing.
B) Evaluate findings to assess whether they are meaningful.
C) Review conceptual framework and relationships to be studied.
D) Conduct analysis.
E) Prepare data for analysis.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

All of the following are typical tasks involved with data preparation EXCEPT:

A) editing
B) dealing with missing data
C) coding
D) transforming the data
E) calculating the mean

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Before questionnaire data can be used, it must be ____, which involves inspecting it for completeness and consistency, checking to see if respondents understood the question or followed a particular sequence they were supposed to in a branching question, and/or eliminating questionnaires due to missing data or responses on screening questions.

A) prepared
B) edited
C) transformed
D) entered
E) coded

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Blair collected data for her doctoral dissertation, and before she analyzes it to test her hypotheses, she must inspect it for completeness and consistency. She will need to eliminate some questionnaires due to missing data or based on how some respondents answers the screening questions regarding whether or not they use the product category in her study. Which task in the data preparation stage is Blair conducting?

A) preparation
B) coding
C) entering
D) editing
E) screening

Question 5

All of the following are activities performed when editing questionnaire data EXCEPT _____.

A) inspecting the data for completeness and consistency
B) checking to see if respondents understood the question
C) checking to see if respondents followed a particular sequence they were supposed to in a branching question
D) eliminating questionnaires dues to missing data or responses on screening questions
E) assigning numbers to particular responses

Question 6

Which is an approach for dealing with missing data?

A) for metric variables, estimate the missing values by substituting the mean
B) for nonmetric variables, estimate the missing values by substituting the mean
C) for metric variables, estimate the missing values by substituting the standard deviation
D) for nonmetric variables, estimate the missing values by substituting the standard deviation
E) for metric or nonmetric variables, estimate the missing values by substituting the kurtosis

Question 7

One approach to dealing with missing data is to identify the respondents and variables that have a large proportion of missing data points. Which percentage is considered the cutoff for this decision?

A) 2 percent or more
B) 8 percent or more
C) 15 percent or more
D) 25 percent or more
E) 50 percent or more

Question 8

Louis is assigning a number to a particular response so the answer can be entered into a database. He assigns a 5 for "strongly agree" and a 1 for "strongly disagree," and the points in between get assigned 2, 3, or 4. Louis is _____.

A) analyzing the data
B) coding
C) developing the frequency distribution
D) measuring the kurtosis
E) calculating the mean

Question 9

Why is it recommended to use "0" or "1" to code a two-category variable, such as gender?

A) because one category is not important
B) because it enables greater flexibility in data analysis
C) because computers can only understand "0's" or "1's"
D) because it minimizes the chance for errors
E) because it makes it easier to interpret the results of data analyses

Question 10

How are missing values typically represented?

A) with a zero (0)
B) with a dot (.)
C) with a comma (,)
D) with an asterisk (*)
E) with an exclamation mark (!)

Question 11

_____is the process of changing the original form of data to a new format.

A) Data transformation
B) Coding
C) Data preparation
D) Data analysis
E) Frequency distribution

Question 12

Clarence has some questions on his questionnaire that are negatively worded. Thus, on these questions that have 5-point scales, he changes a 5 to a 1, 4 to a 2, 2 to a 4, and 1 to a 5, leaving the 3 responses alone. Clarence is _____.

A) reverse coding responses
B) filling in missing data
C) developing the frequency distribution
D) back coding responses
E) dummy-coding responses

Question 13

Combining the scores (raw data) for several statements on a questionnaire into a single score by adding the scores together results in a(n) _____.

A) kurtosis score
B) summated score
C) average summated score
D) model score
E) average score

Question 14

The _____ involves calculating the summated score and then dividing it by the number of variables.

A) median
B) mode
C) standard error of the mean
D) average summated score
E) skewness

Question 15

_____ examine the data one variable at a time and provide counts of the different responses for the various values of the variable.

A) Data counts
B) Single counts
C) Variable counts
D) Variable distributions
E) Frequency distributions

Question 16

Fred needs a tool to display the counts for a given variable, one that will allow him to "eye-ball" check the data to easily determine the amount of non-response, and one that will allow him to see if there are any outliers. Fred should _____.

A) develop a pie chart
B) calculate the mean
C) calculate the mode
D) calculate the median
E) calculate the frequency distribution

Question 17

A vertical bar chart, or _____, can be constructed from the information in the frequency distribution. The shape of the actual data as presented in this visual display can be compared to the expected shape.

A) histogram
B) normal distribution
C) box plot
D) whisker plot
E) dispersion plot

Question 18

_____ show the data in the form of bars that can be displayed either horizontally or vertically and are very useful for showing both absolute and relative magnitudes and for comparing differences.

A) Pie charts
B) Box plots
C) Whisker plots
D) Dispersion plots
E) Bar charts

Question 19

A _____ displays relative proportions of the responses.

A) pie chart
B) box plot
C) whisker plot
D) dispersion plot
E) bar chart

Question 20

Zeke wants to visually show the relative proportions of each response to the question "How often do you eat in the company cafeteria?" that was on the questionnaire for his research study. The most appropriate visual display method would be for him to use a _____.

A) box plot
B) pie chart
C) whisker plot
D) dispersion plot
E) histogram

Question 21

Which type of distribution is symmetrical, bell-shaped, and almost all of its values are within plus or minus three standard deviations from its mean?

A) symmetrical distribution
B) two-sided distribution
C) normal distribution
D) common distribution
E) linear distribution

Question 22

What percent of the values are within plus or minus one standard deviation in a normal distribution?

A) 20%
B) 48%
C) 50%
D) 68%
E) 95%

Question 23

What percent of the values are within plus or minus two standard deviations in a normal distribution?

A) 20%
B) 48%
C) 68%
D) 95%
E) 98%

Question 24

The _____ is the standard deviation of the individuals values of the sample divided by the square root of the sample size.

A) standard error
B) mean
C) mode
D) standard normal deviation
E) normal deviation

Question 25

Which distribution has a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1?

A) normal distribution
B) standard normal distribution
C) average normal distribution
D) normed distribution
E) zeta distribution

Question 26

Which of the following locates the center of the distribution as well as other useful information?

A) Z value
B) histograph
C) bar chart
D) measures of central tendency
E) standard normal distribution

Question 27

Which of the following in NOT a measure of central tendency?

A) mean
B) median
C) mode
D) standard deviation
E) all of these are measures of central tendency

Question 28

The _____ is the arithmetic average and is one of the most commonly used measures of central tendency.

A) mean
B) median
C) mode
D) standard deviation
E) skewness

Question 29

What type of data is necessary to be able to calculate the mean?

A) interval
B) ratio
C) nominal
D) ordinal
E) either interval or ratio

Question 30

Carl has ordinal data and wants to calculate a measure of central tendency. Which measure is most appropriate for his level of measurement?

A) mean
B) median
C) mode
D) standard deviation
E) kurtosis

Question 31

Cynthia has categorical data and wants to calculate a measure of central tendency. Which measure is most appropriate for her level of measurement?

A) mean
B) median
C) mode
D) standard deviation
E) kurtosis

Question 32

Measures of _____ describe the tendency for sample responses to depart from the central tendency and are another means of summarizing the data.

A) dispersion
B) spread
C) departure
D) abnormality
E) displacement

Question 33

All of the following are measures of dispersion EXCEPT _____.

A) range
B) mean
C) variance
D) standard deviation
E) skewness

Question 34

This simple measure of dispersion defines the spread of the data and is the distance between the largest and the smallest values of a sample frequency distribution. It identifies the end points of the sample distribution. This measure described is known as _____.

A) variance
B) skewness
C) kurtosis
D) range
E) difference

Question 35

What is the problem with deviation scores?

A) they do not provide very useful information
B) when we try to calculate an average deviation for all respondents, the positive deviation scores always cancel out the negative ones, thus leaving an average deviation value of zero
C) they are difficult to compute
D) too much information is lost when examining individual deviation scores
E) they do not accurately measure how far away a respondent is from the mean

Question 36

If each and every respondent in the distribution is the same as the mean, the variance _____.

A) will equal zero
B) will be positive
C) will be negative
D) will be very large
E) cannot be calculated

Question 37

The _____ describes the spread or variability of the sample distribution values from the mean, and is perhaps the most valuable index of dispersion.

A) range
B) variance
C) standard deviation
D) skewness
E) kurtosis

Question 38

Two measures that indicate the shape of the distribution are _____.

A) mean and median
B) mean and mode
C) range and variance
D) range and standard deviation
E) skewness and kurtosis

Question 39

_____ measures the departure from a symmetrical (or balanced) distribution.

A) Range
B) Variance
C) Kurtosis
D) Skewness
E) Standard deviation

Question 40

_____ is a measure of a distribution's peakedness (or flatness).

A) Range
B) Variance
C) Kurtosis
D) Skewness
E) Standard deviation

Question 41

A curve is too peaked when the kurtosis exceeds _____ and is too flat when it is below _____.

A) 0; 0
B) +1; -1
C) -1; +2
D) +5; +2
E) -2; -5

Question 42

A(n) _____ is a respondent (observation) that has one or more values that are distinctly different from the values of other respondents and can impact the validity of the findings.

A) outlier
B) abnormality
C) extreme
D) variance
E) deviant

Question 43

Blank responses are referred to as missing data and do not have to be dealt with when analyzing data.

Question 44

Manipulation checks can be used to verify that a respondent interpreted the description within the question correctly.

Question 45

Data transformation is the process of changing data from the original form to a new format and is done to more easily understand the data.

Question 46

Data warehouses are computerized electronic storage devices that hold information collected by a business.

Question 47

A histogram is a horizontal bar chart that is constructed from information in frequency distribution and has space between the bars. .

Question 48

Pie charts and bar charts can both be used to display relative proportions of responses.

Question 49

A normal distribution is a continuous curve that describes all possible values of a variable.

Question 50

The standard error is the standard deviation of the individual values of the sample times the square of the sample size. .

Question 51

Measures of dispersion describe the tendency for sample responses to depart from the central tendency.

Question 52

The range is the most difficult measure of dispersion to calculate. .

Question 53

The standard deviation describes the spread or variability of the sample distribution values from the mean.

Question 54

Skewness measures the departure from a symmetrical (or balanced) distribution.

Question 55

What is the advantage of using an average summated score over using a summated score?

Question 56

Name and describe common visual tools to display the frequency distribution.

Question 57

Discuss the typical tasks involved in data preparation.

Question 58

A researcher is in the preparation stage of quantitative data analysis and is concerned about missing data because it can impact the validity of his findings. Explain how he should deal with this problem.

Question 59

What is a frequency distribution and how is it useful in business research?

Question 60

Name and describe the measures of dispersion.