Psyc 210 E1 review

A descriptive statistic does what?

• allows us to infer our results

• describes the hypothesis

• operationalizes the independent variable

• summarizes, organizes, and explains results

What kind of statistic allows a researcher to make inferences about a population of interest?

• descriptive

• inferential

• regression

• discrete data

A sample is generally defined as...

• set of observations drawn from a subset of the population of interest 

• the entire group of interest about which we want to make conclusions

• collection of all possible members of a defined group

• a single number or group of numbers that organize, summarize, and communicate a group of numerical data

What are variables?

• value of physical, attitudinal, or behavioral characteristics for a given interval

• whole number

• specific value

• observations of physical, attitudinal, and behavioral characteristics that can take on different values

Which of the following is not a variable?

• exam scores

• attendance

• student ID number

• numbers of hours studying

Height is to ___; ranking is to ___

• ratio; ordinal

• ordinal; ratio

• interval; nominal

• nominal; interval

The term level refers to...

• the discrete values that a variable can take on

• a variable that is manipulated to determine its effects on another variable

• a variable that we try to randomize away or control

• a variable that you measure

A researcher is studying the how different amounts of sunlight affect the growth of plants. Plant A receives 4 hours of sunlight per day, Plant B receives 8 hours of sunlight per day, and Plant C receives 12 hours of sunlight per day. What is the independent variable?

• type of plant

• plant growth

• color of the plant

• amount of sunlight

Reliability is to ___; validity is to ___

• measures what it is intended to measure; consistency

• consistency; measures what it is intended to measure

What is hypothesis testing?

• concluding information about relationships between variables based on evidence

• setting up an experiment in terms of levels and variables

• measuring a variable of interest using an operational definition

• summarizing data using descriptive statistics