Inferential Statistics Quiz

What are inferential statistics used for?

• To calculate the average value of a dataset

• To determine if the results from your sample of data are likely due to chance or a true representation of the population

• To represent data graphically

• To measure the central tendency of a dataset

What does a significance level of 0.05 indicate in biology?

• A 5% risk of concluding that a result is significant when it is not due to chance

• A 95% confidence that the results are due to chance

• A 5% probability that the results are not significant

• A 95% risk of concluding that a result is not significant when it was actually due to chance

What does the term "significant" imply in the context of inferential statistics?

• The results are likely to have occurred due to chance

• The results are very unlikely to have occurred due to chance

• The results are completely random

• The results have a p-value greater than 0.05

What is the p-value?

• The probability of the sample mean being equal to the population mean

• The probability of obtaining the sampling results due to chance

• The percentage of the data that falls within one standard deviation

• The risk of rejecting a true null hypothesis

What does a smaller p-value indicate?

• Less confidence in the results

• Stronger evidence that the results are significant (not due to chance)

• Weaker evidence that the results are significant

• Higher probability that the results are due to chance

What is the difference between correlation and causation?

• Correlation implies a cause-and-effect relationship, while causation does not

• Causation implies a cause-and-effect relationship, while correlation does not

• Correlation and causation both imply a cause-and-effect relationship

• Correlation and causation are terms used interchangeably in statistics

What does correlation describe?

• The probability of obtaining the sampling results due to chance

• The strength and direction of a linear relationship between two variables

• The likelihood that one event causes another

• The percentage of variance explained by a model

What does causation describe in the context of the relationship between two variables?

• The statistical measure that describes how spread out the data is from the mean

• The relationship where one variable has a direct effect on another

• The degree of variance from the average

• The classification of data for a dependent variable as qualitative - nominal

What does it mean if two variables have a correlation?

• It means they have a direct effect on each other

• It means they are linked causally

• It means they change in relation to one another but are not necessarily linked

• It means the data is spread out a long way from the mean

What percentage of data lies within one standard deviation of the mean in a normal distribution?

• 95%

• 68%

• 99%

• 50%