Appendix A TEST

Test yourself repeatedly throughout your studies. This will not only help you figure out what you know and don’t know; the testing itself will help you learn and remember the information more effectively thanks to the testing effect.

Question 15.11

1. Which of the three measures of central tendency is most easily distorted by a few very large or very small scores?

  1. The mode

  2. The mean

  3. The median

  4. They are all equally vulnerable to distortion from atypical scores.

b

Question 15.12

2. The standard deviation is the most useful measure of variation in a set of data because it tells us

  1. the difference between the highest and lowest scores in the set.

  2. the extent to which the sample being used deviates from the bigger population it represents.

  3. how much individual scores differ from the mode.

  4. how much individual scores differ from the mean.

d

Question 15.13

3. Another name for a bell-shaped distribution, in which most scores fall near the middle and fewer scores fall at each extreme, is a _________ ________.

normal curve

Question 15.14

4. In a _______ correlation, the scores rise and fall together; in a(n) _______ correlation, one score falls as the other rises.

  1. positive; negative

  2. positive; illusory

  3. negative; inverse

  4. strong; weak

a

Question 15.15

5. If a study revealed that tall people were less intelligent than short people, this would suggest that the correlation between height and intelligence is ________ (positive/negative).

negative

A-9

Question 15.16

6. A _________ provides a visual representation of the direction and the strength of a relationship between two variables.

scatterplot

Question 15.17

7. What is regression toward the mean, and how can it influence our interpretation of events?

Regression toward the mean is a statistical phenomenon describing the tendency of extreme scores or outcomes to return to normal after an unusual event. Without knowing this, we may inaccurately decide the return to normal was a result of our own behavior.

Question 15.18

8. In __________-_________ studies, a characteristic is assessed across different age groups at the same time.

cross-sectional

Question 15.19

9. When sample averages are and _________ the difference between them is ________, we can say the difference has statistical significance.

  1. reliable; large

  2. reliable; small

  3. due to chance; large

  4. due to chance; small

a

Find answers to these questions in Appendix E.

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