Quiz (Chapter 5)

Statistical Inference

1. (T/F) If a researcher has absolutely no interest beyond the specific data he/she collects, there is no need whatsoever for any statistical techniques that are inferential in nature.
2. (T/F) The purpose of inferential statistics is to make scientific guesses as to the value of the unknown sample statistic on the basis of the value of the known population parameter.
3. Statistical inference involves _____ . (a) proving things (b) making educated guesses
4. Suppose 4 books are pulled off a library shelf containing 25 books, with those 4 books considered to be the sample. Would the population in this example be a "tangible" population or an "abstract" population?

5. (T/F) The statistical focus in section "a" of Figure 5.1 is different from the statistical focus in section "b."
6. What symbol is used to denote the population's mean? The population's standard deviation?
7. The Greek letter ___ denotes Pearson's product-moment correlation in the population.
8. (T/F) In inferential statistics, the sample statistic & the population parameter MUST deal with the same concept (e.g., if the statistic is the mean, then the parameter must be the mean).
9. (a) N is to s as n is to __. (b) m is to __ as r is to r.

10. If every object in the population has an equal chance of being selected for inclusion in the sample, then the word ______ describes the way in which the sample was selected.
11. (T/F) The notion of a "sampling frame" comes into play only when the population is tangible.
12. For each of these samples, indicate whether it is a probability sample or a nonprobability sample:
1. convenience sample
2. purposive sample
3. quota sample
4. simple random sample
5. stratified random sample
6. snowball sample
7. cluster sample
8. systematic sample
13. If a stratified random sample of 100 people is extracted from a population that contains 60% females and 40% males, how many males will there be in the sample?
14. If an instructor collected data from everyone enrolled in his/her class, and if those data were then treated as if they had come from a sample, what would be the official name for this kind of sample?
15. On the surface (but only on the surface), a quota sample looks somewhat like a __________ sample.

16. What does the term "response rate" mean?  Should it be high or low?
17. (T/F)  If a mailed questionnaire is sent to a random sample of individuals in a population, the problem of low response rate cannot logical develop.
18. (T/F) In studies involving a mailed questionnaire, researchers can't do anything to bring about a high response rate and must "live with" whatever response rate they get.
19. The possible problem of a _________ can be investigated by comparing (a) responses from a sample of folks who initially do not respond with (b) responses from those folks who initially did respond.
20. Some researchers use the word ________ to mean the same thing as "attrition."
21. In Excerpt 5.24, the attrition rate at the 3-month assessment was equal to
    1. 19%
    2. 54%
    3. 73%

22. The first warning advises you to be on guard when reading research articles because there may be a mismatch between _____ and the destination of the inferential claims.
23. If a researcher has a population of 1,000 individuals, which of these samples would be better than the other?
1. A probability sample of 50 individuals
2. A nonprobability sample of 300 individuals
24. Suppose a researcher shuffles well a deck of playing cards and then blindly gives a card to each member of a group of 50 individuals.  Also suppose that the researcher then collects data from those folks who received a diamond (but not from those who received a club, a heart, or a spade).  In the research report, what should the researcher say about selecting the sample?
1. That a random sample of the 50 individuals was taken
2. That a well-shuffled deck of cards was used to select the random sample of the 50 individuals
25. In the next-to-last sentence in the top paragraph on page 122, the claim is made that "you will encounter technical write-ups in which the researchers emphasize ____ to the near exclusion of a clear explanation of where their data came from or to whom the results apply."

Copyright © 2003 Schuyler W. Huck
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