PSYCH STATS OLD EXAMS, Provided For Self-Learning
PSYCH STATS OLD EXAMS, Provided For Self-Learning
1. An interaction is:
2. An important method for controlling extraneous variables, in which subjects are placed
into groups via the flip of a coin is called:
a. elimination
b. constancy
c. nuisance variables
d. random assignment
a. ordinal
b. interval
c. ratio
d. nominal
a. Nuisance variables influence one level of the IV more then the other level, whereas
confounds influence both levels about equally in the long run.
b. Confounds influence one level of the IV more then the other level, whereas nuisance
variables influence both levels about equally in the long run.
c. The experimenter can control the amount of correlation to the independent variable in the
case of confounds but not in the case of nuisance variables.
d. The experimenter can control confounds but not nuisance variables.
a. error
b. confound
c. necessary conditions
d. crap
9. Nuisance variables:
a. ordinal
b. interval
c. ratio
d. nominal
11. The scale of hurricane intensity (category 1-5) is what type of scale?
(As this question shows, some scales fall on the borderline of two types.)
a. nominal/categorical
b. ordinal
c. interval
d. Sort of ordinal and interval -- it definitely has order, and the "distance" between each
category is approximately equal (though not precisely so).
12. Differences between how Americans as a whole think about using banks and how Japanese as
a whole think about banking (SFS, chapter 1)
14- I want a single number to summarize the height of my basketball team, which includes boys
and girls aged 6 through 12 (some extreme scores!). What measure is best?
a. median
b. mean
c. frequency
d. distribution/polygon
15. To provide the most complete look at how the heights are spread out in 14, which procedure
is best:
a. median
b. range
c. standard deviation
d. frequency distribution/polygon
16. An experimenter treats every participant in a study differently. As a result the variability of
participants' scores within the group increased. For this study, the experimenter has introduced
a (n):
a. uncontrolled variable
b. independent variable
c. confounding variable
d. nuisance variable
a. peer review, in which other people in the same research area review results
b. peer review, in whish persons from other professions review results
c. substantial financial support from companies interested in results
d. private companies such as prudential
20. Which is an interaction?
a. effects of drug A become stronger when taken with drug B than alone
b. effects of drug A are twice as strong as drug B alone
c. patients influence each other's choices
d. drug A increases socialization when taken
21. Variables other than the IV that cause differences between groups are:
a. extraneous variables
b. confounds
c. nuisance variables
d. dependent variables
a. descriptive statistics
b. inferential statistics
c. sampling statistics
d. experimental statistics
2 2 4
7 3 6
4 5 4
8 2 5
a. symmetrical
b. unimodal
c. normal
d. bimodal
a. positively skewed
b. negatively skewed
c. balanced
d. standard
a. 4
b. 4.5
c. 5
d. 6
a. 5
b. 6
c. 7
d. 8
a. 48/12
b. 50/12
c. 52/12
d. 54/12
a. 3
b. 4
c. 5
d. 7
a. 2
b. 4.5
c. 5
d. 7
a. √2
b. √4
c. √8
d. √9
a. √2
b. √4
c. √8
d. √9
a. multiply
b. sum
c. eat
d. Greek
36. Dr. No has a control group and an experimental group take a test. The control group does
nothing before the test, whereas the experimental group does exercises designed to
synchronize different brain regions. The experimental group ends up doing better on the test. In
this case, individual differences in intelligence would be
a. a confound
b. a nuisance variable
c. an extraneous variable
d. irrelevant in this study
37. In the above study, Dr. No concludes that brain synchrony increases performances. You point
out (this was an old lecture discussion topic not now used),
a. increased blood flow from exercise (an effect of the exercises in addition to synchrony!) is a
confound that could have effected the exercise group but not the control group
b. increased blood flow from exercise is a nuisance variable
c. this is a correlation study that cannot prove causality
d. there are too many extraneous variables to ever draw a conclusion.
38. In an experiment, subjects are divided into groups that take a test under different conditions:
Either in a room with blue light, or normal lighting. Performance on the text is measured. The
score on the test would be the:
a. dependent variable
b. independent variable
c. an extraneous variable
d. a nuisance variable
a. dependent variable
b. independent variable
c. an extraneous variable
d. a nuisance variable
32. In a population distribution, what percentage of scores is between -2SD and -1SD?
a. 34
b. 16
c. 14
d. 2
33. In a population distribution, what percentage of scores is between -1SD and the mean
a. 34
b. 16
c. 14
d. 2
Form C
Exam 2
EXAM 2
OLD EXAMS: LEARN HOW TO ANSWER QUESTIONS; DO NOT SIMPLY MEMORIZE (won’t
help)
3. In a normal distribution, you know that the mean of the scores is 50 and the standard
deviation is 5. A score of 60 would therefore
a. fall one standard deviation above the mean
b. fall two standard deviations above the mean
c. fall one standard deviation below the mean
d. fall two standard deviations below the mean
e. cannot interpret the score with the information given
4. When the results of a research project are significant, we can say with most confidence that
they:
a. have proved our experimental hypothesis
b. demonstrate that nuisance variables were not present in the research
c. occurred rarely by chance
d. demonstrate that a confounder was not present in the research
5. You find children who take vitamins have higher health index scores than children who do
not take vitamins (p < .05). You have found that these two groups of children are
a. significantly different
b. different because of chance
c. positively correlated
d. negatively correlated
9. If you could compare all men and women in the world, assume that you would find no
difference in intelligence. If you conducted an experiment and the statistics said that women have
significantly higher intelligence scores than men, you have made a
a. correct decision
b. Type I error
c. Type II error
d. Type III error
11. When the raw data come from a very non-normal population,
a. one should use non-normal statistics
b. the likelihood of confounds greatly increases
c. distributions of means will be more normal than the population
d. statistical tests should not be attempted
12. Nuisance variables cause
a. confounds
b. within-group variability
c. between-group variability
d. a directional hypothesis
14. Consider a normal distribution with a mean of 65 and a standard deviation of 7; 34% of all
the scores in this distribution occur between the scores of:
a. 58 and 65
b. 58 and 72
c. 65 and 79
d. a and c
e. none of the above
15. Consider a normal distribution with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 5. The
percentage of scores found between 45 and 55 is:
a. 68%
b. 34%
c. 14%
d. 2%
16. The SD = 6 and sample size is 4. How accurate are the means, on average? (means!)
a. 6/3
b. 6/4
c. 6/(square root(4)) = 6/2
d. cannot tell without further information
17. The mean is 20, the SD = 10, and sample size is 4. What percentage of means (with n = 4)
would be between 20 and 30?
a. 48
b. 34
c. 14
d. cannot tell without further information
21. Power is
a. the ability to detect an IV Effect when it is real
b. the strength of an effect in an experiment
c. a result that was unlikely to occur by chance
d. the probability of rejecting the null when the null hypothesis was true
27. 95% of the IV Effects by chance are within the actual values of -2 and +2,
so SEDifference =
a. 4
b. 2
c. 1
d. cannot tell without further information
28. Confounds will
a. not influence statistics
b. show up as a negative t value
c. contribute to the amount of error
d. increase or decrease the apparent IV Effect
30. The sample size in an experiment are 12 and 8. The degrees of freedom for t are:
a. 8
b. 12
c. 18
d. 20
For EXAM III — SEE ALSO EXAM 4 FOR MORE ANOVA 2 X 2!!!
THIS ANOVA / 2X2 MATERIAL NOW APPEARS ON EXAM 3:
Exam 4 Questions 1 – 7, 10 – 11, 14 – 21, 30 – 33
3. In your experiment, you plan to give people three different types of chocolate to see
which one they like the best; this means that you have _________ levels of the IV.
a. 2
a. 3
b. 4
c. 6
4. _____________ groups are groups of research participants who are related, through
matching or repeated measures.
a. independent
b. correlated
c. confounded
d. dependent
6. The t-test and ANOVA give similar results (t2 = F) for what kind of design:
a. 2 X 2 factorial
b. multi-level one factor
c. one factor two group
d. Latin Square
7. This allows you to compare variance from the IV Effect and from error in the F-ratio:
a. Comparison Table
b. Source Table
c. Sums of Squares Table
d. IV/Error table
9. If you are using repeated measures, then you are including all subjects in __________
of the treatment conditions.
a. half
b. one-third
c. all
d. many
10. If 10 subjects serve in one group and 10 others in the other group, the groups are
a. dependent
b. correlated
c. random
d. independent
11. You would describe a design with two levels of IV A and three levels of IV B as:
a. 2x2
b. 3x2
c. 3x3
d. 2x3
14. C1 refers to
a. Third subject
b. Third level, first variable
c. Third variable, first level
d. Constants used in ANOVA
You are comparing 3 types of training methods for the GRE and you have 5
subjects in each condition. Please fill in the blanks with these possible answers:
a. 12
b. 15
c. 42
d. 38
Source SS df MS F
IV 30 2 20. _____? 21. ______?
Total 18._____? 14
A tofu company had 15 people rate different colors of package. The scale went from
1 to 10 (10 = best).
24. What is the absolute deviation for IV for the first subject in A2?
a. 1
b. 2
c. 4
d. 6
e. 9
25. What is the absolute deviation for IV for the second subject in A2?
a. 1
b. 2
c. 4
d. 6
e. 9
26. What is the absolute deviation for Error for the second subject in A2?
a. 1
b. 2
c. 4
d. 6
e. 9
For 27-31
Twelve people rated different colors of gas stations, on a scale from 1 to 7.
Green Red Blue
2 5 6
4 5 6
4 6 4
6 4 8
29. What is the absolute deviation for Between for the second-to-last subject in A3?
a. 1
b. 2
c. 4
d. 5
e. 6
30. What is the absolute deviation for Between for the last subject in A3?
a. 1
b. 2
c. 4
d 5
e. 6
31. What is the absolute deviation for Within for the last subject in A3?
a. 1
b. 2
c. 4
d. 5
e. 6
34. What would be condition A2B1 in an experiment that factorially combines topic (the
first factor; levels are history and math) and 2 levels of study (the second factor;
levels are read, and read & underline)?
a. history, math
b. read, read & underline
c. math, read & underline
d. math, read
36. The SPSS printout says the level of significant is .06. By conventional statistical
rules, we can
a. reject the null hypothesis
b. say the null hypothesis is proved
c. say we cannot reject the null hypothesis
d. say that a type one error is likely
37. In ANOVA, under the null hypothesis, the most likely F value is
a. 0
b. 1
c. 2
d. 4
38. Science and politics. During the Bush presidency, the influence of politics and
greed on the scientific process has
a. been prevented
b. increased slightly
c. increased in critical ways (correct; occasional lecture topic)
e. completely taken over
(for more information see: http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/rsi/index.cfm
Also, Search “scientific integrity”; I have not found administration responses in my
searches, though they may exist.)
39. After finding a significant effect with 6 levels of an IV, the follow up tests should
a. be conducted in the appropriate 6-step order
b. correct for the possibility of type 1 errors
c. be conducted with p = .02
d. group the levels into 2 or 3 subgroups
________________________________________________________________________
3. In a factorial design, the specific effect of one particular IV, regardless of the
other IV's in the study, is called the
a. main effect
b. the interaction
c. the F ratio
d. the F probability
12. Jane is calculating means from small and large samples of subjects. To see how
accurate a given mean is she should use
a. standard deviation
b. standard error
c. SDODBM
d. a different approach, the necessary information is not available
For questions 14-18, use the following data, showing the effects of study method (A)
and topic (B) on quiz performance:
IV A
Underline Outline
History 8 16
IV B
Economics 12 12
15. What are the main effect means for IV A, underline vs. outline?
a. 12; 12
b. 10; 14
c. 8; 16
d. 10; 12
16. Which statement best describes the interaction of these two variables?
a. There is an effect of history vs. economics in test scores
b. People tend to do better in history when they underline the material and better
in economics when they outline the material
c. People tend to do better in history when they outline the material whereas
there is no effect of study method for economics
d. There is no interaction between the two variables
17. In these data, what is the deviation for IVA in the ANOVA formula?
a. 0
b. 2
c. 4
d. 6
18. What are the main effect means for IV B, history vs. math?
a. 14; 12
b. 12; 12
c. 0; 14
d. 10; 12
19. What is the equation for the interaction sum of squares (note: X means “Mean”):
a. xAB - xA - xB - xG
b. xAB - xA - xB + xG
c. xAB + xA + xB - xG
d. xAB + xA + xB + xG
20. Look at the data and pick the best description of the interaction. The dependent
variable is athletic performance (higher = better).
a. High carbohydrates were better than meat, especially 30 min. after meal.
b. High carbohydrates 2 hr. before was best
c. High carbohydrates were best overall
d. Waiting longer after the meal was better.
21. In a confounded experiment the researcher cannot be certain whether the _____
variable or the _____ variable was responsible for any observed differences in
behavior.
a. extraneous; dependent
b. independent; dependent
c. extraneous; independent
d. active; attribute
23. In a linear regression, the intercept is 4 and the slope is 2. What is the predicted
value of y when x = 3.
a. 0
b. 4
c. 6
d. 10
e. 12
24. Which correlation value (r) shows the strongest relationship?
a. -.75
b. 0
c. .50
d. .70
e. .79
26. You are testing a coin for fairness. During 8 flips you get 6 heads and 2 tails.
The value of Chi-Square (sum for all cells) is:
a. 2/4
b. 1
c. 2
d. 5
27. If males are assumed to be the same as females, what is the expected frequency
of males in A2? Chi
(Fraction values shown below)
Males Females
A1 6 4
A2 4 6
a. 2
b. 3
c. 4
d. 5
e. 6
28. In a linear regression, the intercept is 10 and the slope 4. What is the predicted
value of y when x is 2?
a. 4
b. 8
c. 14
d. 18
29. Interaction is
a. influenced by IVA and IVB main effects
b. unique to multi-level ANOVA
c. a unique effect of the combinations of variables
d. less important than the main effects
Questions 30-33, describe the effects in the data. Possible answers:
30. Graphs appear, as on “FIND THE INTERACTION” exercise (handed out in class)
31. graph
IVB
B1 B2
A1 40 40
IVA
A2 60 100
33-36. Pick which type of statistical approach is most appropriate for the type of research
problem given. Use these possible answers:
a. t-test
b. multi-level ANOVA
c. multi-factor ANOVA
d. regression/correlation
e. Chi-Square
33. Sally studies post Psych Stats vacations, by interviewing students after vacations.
She asks how long the vacations were (number of days) and asks for a rating of
relaxation, on a scale from 1 to 7.
34. John studies post Psych Stats vacations, wondering if longer vacations are more
satisfactory. He randomly assigns 10 students to 3-day vacations and 10 students to 7-day
vacations, and measures relaxation after the vacation on a scale of 1 to 7.
35. Eric measures aerobic fitness after subjects engage in an exercise program. He
manipulates exercise in two ways, to see if there is an interaction between type of
exercise (fun or boring) and amount of exercise (small or large amount).
36. Jamie measures “readiness for another semester” after controlling participants’
schedules and randomly assigning participants to either 6 days of vacation, 12
days, or 18 days.