Deck 6: Variables

Question 1

Which of the following is an example of a concrete variable?

A)biological sex
B)communication satisfaction
C)self-disclosure
D)age

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Roseanne is conducting a research study that examines conflict strategies in marriage.
Which type of unit of analysis is Roseanne using in her research study?

A)individual
B)dyad
C)group
D)organization

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Beatty (1988) found that as an individual's level of public speaking anxiety increased, his or her level of conspicuousness also increased. What type of relationship did Beatty find?

A)curvilinear relationship
B)nondirectional relationship
C)positive relationship
D)negative relationship

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Consider the following research hypothesis:
As the amount of television an individual watches increases, self-reports of health decrease.
Which variable is the independent variable in this research hypothesis?

A)health
B)amount of television watched
C)self-reports
D)type of television show watched

Question 5

A Likert scale may be used to measure which level of variable?

A)nominal
B)ordinal
C)interval
D)ratio

Question 6

One's fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons is:

A)a trait
B)a personality disorder
C)communication apprehension
D)ethnocentrism

Question 7

Sara wants to see if male and female scores on the Religious Communication Apprehension Scale are not the same. This would be an example of which kind of test?

A)Directive
B)Relationship
C)Reality
D)Difference

Question 8

The following scale is what type of interval measure: I feel the class's content is:
Bad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Good
Valuable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Worthless

A)semantic differential
B)Likert
C)scalogram
D)Thurstone

Question 9

Darla is working on a study examining physician-patient interactions. One of her questions asks, "How much time do you spend talking with your physician compared to an average patient?" She then gives participants the following possible choices: less than average, average, more than average. This question represents what variable level?

A)nominal
B)ordinal
C)interval
D)ratio

Question 10

What is an entity that can take on an assortment of different values?

A)variable
B)descriptive statistic
C)inferential statistic
D)unit of analysis

Question 11

Pete and Jeremy work in two different divisions of a large corporation. Pete works in marketing, while Jeremy works in accounts payable. The two individuals represent what type of difference?

A)difference in kind
B)difference of degree
C)difference of statistics
D)categorical difference

Question 12

Danny is examining participant perceptions of credibility when exposed to either a short person or a tall person in an experiment. In this study, what would Danny's independent variable be?

A)height (tall vs.short)
B)credibility
C)difference of degree
D)Danny

Question 13

Samantha creates the following scale to measure people's perceptions of the attractiveness of a new website:
$\begin{array}{|c|c|c|c|c|}\hline \begin{array}{c}\text { Strongly } \\\text { Disagree }\end{array} & \text { Disagree } & \text { Neutral } & \text { Agree } & \begin{array}{c}\text { Strongly } \\\text { Agree }\end{array} \\\hline 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 \\\hline\end{array}$ _____1. I find the website very colorful.
_____2. The website was not aesthetically pleasing.
_____3. I found the website ugly.
_____4. I found the website pleasing to the eye.
What type of variable does her newly designed website attractive scale represent?

A)interval
B)nominal
C)ordinal
D)ratio

Question 14

Which of the following variables is an ordinal variable?

A)year in school
B)biological sex
C)communication apprehension
D)age

Question 15

In her study on family communication patterns, Rose asks about her participants' birth order. Birth order would be considered what type of variable?

A)abstract
B)concrete
C)intervening
D)dependent

Question 16

Bill is in the process of studying how accountants interact with one another in large firms. What is Bill's unit of analysis?

A)individuals
B)dyads
C)groups
D)organizations

Question 17

Gregg is conducting a study using socioeconomic status (SES) as a variable. He categories SES into three groups: lower, middle, and upper. When entering his data, lower SES is entered as 1, middle SES as two, and upper SES as 3. What do the numbers 1, 2, & 3 represent?

A)variable attributes
B)variable aspects
C)variable essentialism
D)variable values

Question 18

Gregg is conducting a study using socioeconomic status (SES) as a variable. He categories SES into three groups: lower, middle, and upper. What type of variable is SES?

A)nominal
B)ordinal
C)interval
D)ratio

Question 19

A researcher conducting an interview asks for her participants' ages. What type of variable is age?

A)nominal
B)ordinal
C)interval
D)ratio

Question 20

The interval level of measurement is contingent upon an absolute zero.

Question 21

When researchers assume that because a participant is a member of a specific group (such as a culture) he or she possesses all the same communication characteristics as the group, they have made a hasty generalization.

Question 22

A negative relationship occurs when increases or decreases in an individual's scores on one variable correspond to increases or decreases in an individual's scores on a second variable.

Question 23

An abstract variable changes or differs over time or across situations or contexts.

Question 24

Dependent variables are included in research studies to determine if the effects of change in an independent variable can cause change in an intervening variable.

Question 25

A personality trait will exhibit itself in almost any situation responded to by the individual.

Question 26

The PRCA-24 includes only three dimensions including public speaking, small group, and interpersonal communication.

Question 27

Explain and provide an example of the two types of differences in research.

Question 28

Explain dependent variable and independent variable. Provide an example in your explanation.

Question 29

Differentiate between the four variable levels, and provide an example for each.

Question 30

What is the difference between antecedent variables and intervening variables?

Question 31

Hollander (1976) noted that there are two basic dimensions of personality. Explain these two dimensions and how they influence communication research.

Question 32

Match each of the following terms with the correct statement.
-Unit of Analysis

A)Individuals, Dyads, Groups, and Organizations.
B)Numerical designation assigned to each variable.
C)When a decrease in one variable corresponds to an increase in another variable.
D)Communication Satisfaction or Self-Disclosure.
E)Specific Categories of a variable.

Question 33

Match each of the following terms with the correct statement.
-Variable Value

A)Individuals, Dyads, Groups, and Organizations.
B)Numerical designation assigned to each variable.
C)When a decrease in one variable corresponds to an increase in another variable.
D)Communication Satisfaction or Self-Disclosure.
E)Specific Categories of a variable.

Question 34

Match each of the following terms with the correct statement.
-Negative Relationship

A)Individuals, Dyads, Groups, and Organizations.
B)Numerical designation assigned to each variable.
C)When a decrease in one variable corresponds to an increase in another variable.
D)Communication Satisfaction or Self-Disclosure.
E)Specific Categories of a variable.

Question 35

Match each of the following terms with the correct statement.
-Abstract Variable

A)Individuals, Dyads, Groups, and Organizations.
B)Numerical designation assigned to each variable.
C)When a decrease in one variable corresponds to an increase in another variable.
D)Communication Satisfaction or Self-Disclosure.
E)Specific Categories of a variable.

Question 36

Match each of the following terms with the correct statement.
-Variable Attribute

A)Individuals, Dyads, Groups, and Organizations.
B)Numerical designation assigned to each variable.
C)When a decrease in one variable corresponds to an increase in another variable.
D)Communication Satisfaction or Self-Disclosure.
E)Specific Categories of a variable.