Chapter 03

A Statistics Refresher

1. Which is the most common type of scale used in psychological tests?

A. continuous
B. discrete
C. contiguous
D. None of these

2. In a scale used in a psychology experiment, a value of "1" is assigned to subjects with black hair,
and a value of "2" is assigned to subjects with blonde hair. The type of scale used in this experiment
is:
A. ordinal.
B. ratio.
C. interval.
D. nominal.

3. Measuring temperature with a Fahrenheit thermometer entails the use of which type of scale?
A. ratio.
B. ordinal.
C. interval.
D. nominal.

4. Numbers are assigned to each player on the university basketball team. This use of numbers could
BEST be characterized as
A. a nominal scale.
B. an ordinal scale.
C. an interval scale.
D. a ratio scale.

5. An instructor rank-orders students in her measurement class based on their performance on a quiz
of Chapter 3 in the textbook. In this instance, the instructor is using which type of scale?
A. nominal
B. interval
C. ordinal
D. comparative

6. Yards gained by running backs during a football game is an example of which type of scale?
A. nominal
B. ordinal
C. interval
D. ratio

7. Miles-per-hour is an example of which type of scale?

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

8. Which is the only type of scale that has an absolute zero point?
A. nominal
B. ordinal
C. ratio
D. interval

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9. Alfred Binet conceived the assignment of numbers to the results of a person's response to
questions on an intelligence test to be what type of scale?
A. nominal
B. ordinal
C. interval
D. ratio

10. The data from most psychological tests could BEST be characterized as which level of
measurement?
A. nominal
B. ordinal
C. interval
D. ratio

11. The French word for "black" is a convenient acronym for

A. five factors measured by Binet's test.
B. four levels of measurement.
C. four parts of the partitioned normal curve.
D. five families of frequency distributions.

12. A frequency distribution typically includes

A. the average score and a measure of diversion around it.
B. each possible score and how often it occurs.
C. an estimate of how spread out the scores are.
D. an index of how "popular" a particular frequency is.

13. Which is the MOST common factor influencing a decision as to the size of class interval in a
grouped frequency distribution?
A. the number of scores above the mean
B. the size of the mean
C. convenience
D. the size of the mean and the standard deviation

14. Frequency distributions may be illustrated in a variety of ways. Which of the following
illustrations is the MOST popular of illustrating a frequency distribution?
A. a histogram
B. a scatterplot
C. a pie chart
D. a radio dial

15. In a grouped frequency distribution

A. the total of the frequency column is equal to the total number of scores in the distribution.
B. test-score intervals replace the actual test scores.
C. each test score must fall in only one test-score interval.
D. All of these

16. Measures of central tendency refer to which part of the frequency distribution?
A. the high end of the distribution
B. the middle of the distribution
C. the low end of the distribution
D. the very end of the distribution

17. In calculating the mean of a distribution of test scores, the person analyzing the data takes
account of:
A. only the extreme scores in the distribution.
B. only the middle scores in the distribution.
C. every score in the distribution.
D. the standard scores in the distribution.

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18. The mean, the median, and the mode are all
A. measures of central tendency.
B. measures of variability.
C. measures of dispersion.
D. standard scores.

19. A 100-item achievement test is administered to 30 students. Students earn 1 point for each
correct answer. In the test results there are three scores of 95. All of the other students score
between 10 and 30. What measure of central tendency would be MOST representative of this set of
scores?
A. average deviation
B. the median
C. the mode
D. the standard deviation

20. What is the formula for the arithmetic mean as calculated from a frequency distribution?
A. "summation of fx" divided by N
B. "summation of the absolute deviations" divided by N
C. "summation of x" divided by N
D. None of these

21. T scores have a mean of ________ and a standard deviation of ________.

A. 20; 10
B. 50; 10
C. 100; 15
D. 100; 10

22. What standard score has a mean of 5 and a standard deviation of approximately 2?
A. decile
B. T
C. stanine
D. z

23. What is the primary advantage of normalization of a skewed distribution?

A. greater validity
B. easier comparability to other scales
C. greater reliability
D. eliminates negative numbers

24. If a particular measure yields scores that are normally distributed, this may be characterized as a
desirable feature of that measure. A normal distribution of scores is desirable because
A. it provides evidence that the measure is valid, reliable, and psychometrically sound.
B. it shows that both the testtakers and the test users were quite diligent in completing their
respective tasks.
C. the proportion of testtakers having scores in specific ranges can be estimated accurately.
D. it reflects a good sampling procedure used in selecting the normative group.

25. The statistical combination of information across studies is referred to as

A. reliability.
B. meta-analysis.
C. regression.
D. incremental validity.

26. A testtaker who scores at the 5th stanine is scoring

A. above average.
B. below average.
C. within the average range.
D. in an unspecifiable range; it depends on the test.

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