PSYC354 Homework 1 complete solutions correct answers key
Introduction to Statistics
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Part I: Concepts
All Questions
These questions are based on the Nolan and Heinzen reading and end-of-chapter questions.
Fill in the blank with the appropriate word or words.
1. The ____________ is the large group about which you want to know something
2. A(n) ________ is a set of observations drawn from the larger group of interest.
3. A statistic that uses sample data to make general estimates about the larger population is a(n) ________ statistic.
4. A(n) ________ statistic is one which summarizes a group of numbers.
5. A researcher measures the number of minutes per day that a person plays video games. This variable (minutes of video game play) is at the ________ level of measurement.
6. The same researcher divides different video games into 4 categories, or types. The variable “video game type” is a variable at the ________ level of measurement.
7. When describing interval and ratio variables, people often group them together into a more general type of variable. The name for this more general kind of variable is a __________ variable.
8. A scientist is in the process of drawing conclusions about whether or not a particular relation between variables is supported by the data. The name for this process is ________.
9. A variable that is manipulated to determine its effects on another variable is a(n) ________ variable.
10. A(n) ________ variable makes it impossible to determine whether the independent variable is the cause of changes in the dependent variable.
11. When each participant has the same chance of being assigned to the various levels of the manipulation, they are said to be ______________ to conditions.
12. A(n) ___________ relies on random assignment of participants to conditions so that cause and effect can be discovered.
13. Participants experience only one level of the independent variable in a(n) ________ design.
14. Each participant experiences all levels of the independent variable in a(n) ________ design.
15. Briefly explain what a “level” is in relation to independent variables: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Answer the following questions:
Question 1a-1c
A health psychologists decides to study the effects of class in school (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) on the number of hours spent studying.
1-a) What would the independent variable be in this study?
Answer
1-b) What would the dependent variable be in this study?
Answer
1-c) How many levels would the independent variable have?
Answer
Question 2 (a-d)
A psychologist reported the results of a study in which 500 combat veterans completed an everyday stressors scale with scores ranging from 0 to 15. On this scale, 0 corresponded to no stressors, and 15 corresponded to a high number of stressors. On average, the veterans rated their everyday stressors as 7.3. Identify each of the following for this study.
2-a) Population
Answer
2-b) Sample
Answer
2-c) Dependent variable
Answer
2-d) Descriptive statistic
Answer
Questions 3-6
Answer these general SPSS questions.
3) In which window do you enter data in SPSS?
Answer
4) Which window displays the results of your analysis in SPSS?
Answer
5) Which SPSS main menu would you use to choose a particular statistical test?
Answer
6) If you wanted to custom define a variable in SPSS, which window would you open?
Answer
Question 7a-7b
Suppose you have administered a personality inventory to 12 people and have recorded their score on each item in SPSS. The personality inventory has 8 items, so the SPSS file has 8 variables representing each item (item1, item2, etc.). You want to compute a total score for each participant that represents the sum of items 1–8.
7a) Which main SPSS menu contains the option for computing a variable like this?
Answer
7b) According to the presentation and to Lesson 19 in Green and Salkind, what could you type into the “Numeric Expression” text box in order to have SPSS add items 1–8 together? (There is more than one way to do this.)
Answer
Submit Homework 1 by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of Module/Week 1. Remember to name file appropriately.
Done!