Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Chapter 7: Summarizing Research Results: Data
Reduction and Descriptive Statistics
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Anomalous data are data that ______.
a. are not anticipated by the researcher
b. are anticipated by the researcher
c. cannot be analyzed quantitatively
d. cannot be used for ethical reasons
2. Data a researcher discovers to be very different in nature from either expected
results or the main body of data are referred to as ______.
a. androgynous
b. anthropological
c. anomalous
d. anastigmatic
3. Anomalous data may be dealt with by all methods EXCEPT ______.
a. not analyzing them
b. analyzing them along with other data
c. analyzing them separately from other data
d. replacing the anomalous data with an average of the rest of the data
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
4. Which one of the following is NOT true of descriptive statistics?
a. summarize complex data
b. show how the data vary
c. show population parameters
d. show if different groups of people differ in some way
5. Which of the following are TRUE of descriptive statistics?
a. summarize complex data
b. analyze complex data
c. show population parameters
d. analyze sample types
6. In communication research, the word “metric” refers to ______.
a. use of the metric system in research reporting
b. use of scales ranging between 1 and 10
c. use of scales ranging between 100 and 1,000
d. units of measurement
7. The formula for calculating variance includes everything EXCEPT ______.
a. scores for each individual in a group
b. the mean score for the group
c. the number of individuals in the group
d. a description of the population
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
8. The formula for calculating chi-square includes ______.
a. median
b. values expected to be found
c. the number of individuals in the group
d. mode
9. Standard deviation is the ______ variance.
a. square of
b. square-root of
c. range of
d. mean of
10. Statistical calculations can help us decide everything EXCEPT ______.
a. whether there are significant differences among groups of people
b. whether there are significant relationships among variables
c. what level of confidence we can have when we attempt to generalize our
findings
d. who we should survey
11. Which one of the following lists shows measures of central tendency only?
a. range, maximum, and minimum
b. mean, median, and mode
c. mean, median, and maximum
d. mean, minimum, and maximum
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
12. Which one of the following lists shows measures of dispersion only?
a. mean, median, and mode
b. mode, maximum, and minimum
c. mean, median, and maximum
d. range, minimum, and maximum
13. Mean, mode, and median are measures of ______.
a. dispersion
b. distortion
c. correlation
d. central tendency
14. Mean, median, and mode are in a class of statistics known as ______.
a. inferential
b. descriptive
c. nonlinear
d. computational
15. The statistics minimum, maximum, range, variance, and standard deviation
are in a class of statistics known as ______.
a. measures of correlation
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
b. measures of disbursement
c. measures of dispersion
d. descriptive statistics
16. What does the chi-square statistic compares?
a. mean scores in different groups
b. range of scores in different groups
c. distribution of scores in different groups
d. distribution of means in different groups
17. Statistics that describe the relationship between two variables are known as
______ statistics.
a. multivariate
b. univariate
c. bivariate
d. polyvariate
18. Statistics that describe the relationship among three or more variables are
known as ______ statistics.
a. multivariate
b. univariate
c. bivariate
e. polyvariate
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
19. The chi-square test is used to assess whether groups differ on which of the
following types of variables?
a. bivariate and univariate
b. linear and curvilinear
c. nominal and ordinal
d. interval and ratio
20. Which one of the following is NOT a measure of dispersion?
a. minimum
b. maximum
c. mean
d. range
21. Which one of the following lists does NOT show measures of dispersion?
a. minimum and maximum
b. maximum and range
c. mean and mode
d. minimum and range
22. Which one of the following is not a measure of central tendency?
a. mean
b. median
c. average
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
d. variance
23. The term “mean” refers to the ______ in a data set.
a. most frequent score
b. midrange score
c. lowest score
d. average score
24. The term “mode” refers to the ______ in a data set.
a. most frequent score
b. midrange score
c. lowest score
d. average score
25. The term “median” refers to the ______ in a data set.
a. score that appears most frequently
b. score with equal numbers of scores on either side of it
c. lowest score
d. average score
26. The term “range” refers to the difference between the ______ in a data set.
a. most frequent score and the least frequent score
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
b. highest and the lowest scores
c. highest score and the mean
d. mean and the median
27. “Degrees of freedom” is a term that reflects the number of______.
a. different statistical tests that were run on a data set
b. times data were reanalyzed to confirm initial findings
c. different ways data could be combined and still produce the same statistical
results
d. times that a population can be repeatedly sampled
True/False
1. A data set consists of all the data from a research project.
2. Professionalism demands that you analyze all the data in a data set, not just
part of it.
3. Statistical procedures cannot summarize complex quantitative data.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
4. The term “frequencies” refers to the average number of times a particular
value occurs.
5. The range of values for a variable is the difference between the median and
maximum values.
6. Mean, median, and mode all summarize data in the same way.
7. Mean, median, and mode are all measures of dispersion.
8. Mean, median, and mode are all measures of central tendency.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
9. If you know the mean and median values of a data set, you will automatically
know the value of the mode.
10. Minimum, maximum, and range are all measures of dispersion.
11. Minimum, maximum, and range are all measures of central tendency.
12. Degrees of freedom is an estimate of the number of independent pieces of
information on which an estimate is based.
13. The chi-square test looks for differences in average scores between two
groups.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
14. The chi-square test assesses the differences in the distribution of data
between groups.
15. A z-score is the number of times any one score appears in a data set.
16. A z-score is the number of units of standard deviation a value is above or
below the mean.
17. Inferential statistics help us make generalizations about a population from a
smaller sample of that population.
18. Descriptive statistics help us make generalizations about a population from a
smaller sample of that population.
19. The term “frequencies” refers to the number of times a particular score
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
occurs.
20. Variance and standard deviation standardize different measures so we can
compare them “on a level playing field.”
21. Variance is a measure of the extent to which scores in a data set vary.
22. Variance is the square root of standard deviation.
23. Standard deviation is the square root of variance.
24. The larger the standard deviation of a variable, the wider its range of scores
on either side of the mean.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
25. Contingency tables show the relationship between two or more variables.
26. Anomalous data must be dealt with by not analyzing it.
Essay
1. Explain with examples the difference between categorical and continuous
data. Why do we need to know what type of data we are using?
2. Explain the purpose of a z-score and how it is calculated.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
3. Explain the purpose of the chi-square test and identify the type of data used to
compute it.
4. Identify and explain three main uses of statistics.
5. Explain mean, median, and mode and how they differ.
6. Explain minimum, maximum, range, variance, and standard deviation.
7. Explain, with examples, how measures of dispersion differ from measures of
central tendency.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020