Inferential Stats Tricky Questions

The calculated correlation coefficient for the Spearman’s rho test was 0.395. The test is one-tailed and there were 18 participants. Is the data significant?

The data is​ (a)   because n =​ (b)   , with a ​ (c)   tailed test, p =​ 0.05 where the calculated value is​ (d)   and the critical value is​ (e)  

• not significant
• 18
• one
• 0.395
• 0.401
• significant
• two
• 19

In a study of filter theory, a psychology student used a group of female participants. Each participant was shown two descriptions: Description 1 described a man with a similar social background to that of the female participants. Description 2 described a man with a different social background to that of the female participants. The student asked participants to judge how much they liked each description on a scale of 1–10.

The level of measurement is ​ (a)   they use a​ (b)   design and it is a test of​ (c)   so they should use a​ (d)   test.

• ordinal
• repeated measures
• difference
• wilcoxon
• nominal
• interval
• correlation
• mann-whitney

A psychologist decided to design an experiment to test the effects of recreational screen time on children’s academic performance. There was previous research to suggest that there was a link between these two concepts. Which hypothesis should they use?

• A directional hypothesis

• A non-directional hypothesis

A psychologist decided to design an experiment to test the effects of recreational screen time on children’s academic performance. There was previous research to suggest that there was a link between these two concepts. Will the test be a one-tailed or two-tailed test?

• One-tailed

• Two-tailed

Jack is doing an observation on what type of language people use when talking to each other whilst playing video games, his categories are: aggressive language, non-aggressive language. Jack and Cai carry out the observation and their inter-rater reliability is low. What does this tell us about the study?

• The behavioural categories are unclear

• There are too few behavioural categories

• The observers are not trained enough at observing the behaviour

• The observers were not paying enough attention

Jack is doing an observation on what type of language people use when talking to each other whilst playing video games, his categories are: aggressive language, non-aggressive language. Jack and Cai carry out the observation and their inter-rater reliability is low. Which inferential statistical test should we use to measure the inter-rater reliability?

• Chi-squared

• Spearman's Rho

• Pearson's R

A controlled observation was designed to compare the social behaviours of pre-school children of working parents and pre-school children of stay-at-home parents. Each child's behaviour was observed covertly for five minutes while they played in the room. The data from the observation was summarised by converting the number of agreed observations into a total social behaviour score for each child. The data collected was ​ (a)   as it was a social behaviour score, it was a test of ​ (b)   between children of working and stay at home parents and the social scores of the child and it was an ​ (c)   design. This means the inferential statistical test should be ​ (d)  

• ordinal
• difference
• independent groups
• Mann-whitney
• nominal
• interval
• correlation
• Wilcoxon
• repeated measures

A contingency table includes:

• Nominal data

• A total score for each row

• A total score for each column

• A total score for both column and rows

• A conclusion of what the data shows

Answer explanation

The table should look something like this

What is the Df value for this table?

(number of columns - 1) x (number of rows - 1)

• 1

• 2

• 4

• 6

Answer explanation

Remember the total column and rows don't count in the calculation

The calculated value of Chi-square was 6.20. Referring to the Table 2 below, state whether or not the result of the Chi-square test is significant at the 0.05 level of significance. Justify your answer. Using a one-tailed test, the calculated value of ​ (a)   is higher than the critical value of​ (b)   meaning the data is​ (c)   .

• 6.20
• 4.60
• significant
• not significant