Question 1

Why is it always important to first construct a scatter plot when examining bivariate relationships, before then computing the bivariate correlation coefficient?

Accepted Answer

The scatter plot will give you some indication of the size and direction of the bivariate relationship, as does the correlation coefficient, but most importantly it will give you a sense of the shape of the relationship. That is, is the bivariate relationship linear (as often assume) or potentially curvilinear. You can also identify univariate and bivariate outliers using the scatter plot.

Question 2

A statistic is to a sample, as a(n) __________.

Accepted Answer

A)   parameter is to a population
B)   upper limit is to a lower limit
C)   interval scale is to an ordinal scale
D)   dependent variable is to an independent variable A

Question 3

If I wanted to estimate a test takers true underlying level of ability that resulted from a given assessment, I would compute a(n) _________.

Accepted Answer

A)   t-test
B)   alpha reliability
C)   correlation coefficient
D)   95% confidence interval D

Question 4

Shaun completed his first exam in biology and earned a score of 38. This seemed low to him, so he asked his professor what percentile rank this represented. The professor replied it was equivalent to the 85th percentile. What is the interpretation of Shaun's score (a percentile rank score of 85) in this case?

Accepted Answer

A)   He scored higher than 15% of the other students taking the test.
B)   He scored higher than 85% of the other students taking this test.
C)   He actually did even worse than he thought on his first biology exam!
D)   Unfortunately, percentile rank scores tell us nothing informative about an individual's test score.

Question 5

Which of the following words could legitimately fit into this sentence: "The simple frequency distribution has two _____ of 13 and 18".

Accepted Answer

A)   means
B)   models
C)   medians
D)   all three alternatives could be correct

Question 6

A frequency distribution of test scores with a mean of 100 and a median of 90 would be described as _______.

Accepted Answer

A)   negatively skewed
B)   positively skewed
C)   symmetrical or normal
D)   unable to determine unless you also know the standard deviation

Question 7

How would you interpret a test score of z=+1.0? What percentile score would this represent?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How would you interpret a test score...

Question 8

Greek letters are used in statistics to _________.

Accepted Answer

A)   designate characteristics of a sample
B)   designate characteristics of a population
C)   describe a sample of scores larger than 100
D)   imply that a normal distribution is being used in the study

Question 9

Assume you conduct a study to evaluate the relationship between the amount of time a child is read to at age 3 and their reading ability at age 15. You find a correlation of .04. This correlation suggests _____.

Accepted Answer

A)   unable to tell without knowing the number of participants in the study
B)   a moderate relationship; as reading to children increases, reading ability decreases
C)   a very strong relationship; as reading to children increases, reading ability increases
D)   there is almost no relationship between reading to a child and their later reading ability

Question 10

Why do Shultz, Whitney, and Zicker (2021) suggest in Module 2 that descriptive statistics tend to be more informative in applied psychological testing than statistical significance testing?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Why do Shultz, Whitney, and Zicker (2021)...

Question 11

Your study partner can't understand why Professor Shultz spent so much time discussing z scores, in that they don't seem all that important. What would be your response to your study partner as to why z scores are so important in the field of tests and measurement?

Accepted Answer

A)   They allow for both positive and negative scores.
B)   They are easily understood by non-testing professionals.
C)   They allow comparisons across different distributions of scores.
D)   They always carry a positive connotation regarding test performance.

Question 12

What are the major determinants in deciding whether to construct a simple (i.e., individual score) frequency distribution or a grouped frequency distribution to describe a set of test scores?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are the major determinants in deciding...

Question 13

The preferred measure of central tendency for test scores that are measured with an interval level of measurement, which are not severely skewed, would be ______.

Accepted Answer

A)   the mode
B)   the median
C)   arithmetic mean
D)   harmonic mean

Question 14

Why do Shultz, Whitney, and Zicker (2021) suggest that in terms of inferential statistics in psychological testing, that estimation is more informative than statistical significance testing?

Accepted Answer