Instructions: Read each question carefully and indicate the BEST answer to each question in the
appropriate blank space provided. You may also circle the corresponding letter for your answer, but
please make sure to ALSO mark this choice in the blank provided. In the event of two different
answers, I will grade only the answer provided in the space. Please make sure to CLEARLY
identify your answer. You will receive a zero for any illegible responses.
1. A psychologist is interested in studying families who have taken multiple trips to
Southern California. He measures 50 families and wants to see whether their last visit
was the family’s first, second, third, fourth, etc. visit. This is an example of what
type of measurement?
A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) ratio
D) interval
2. Another psychologist is also interested in what type of locations the families go to on
their visits to Southern California (e.g. Disneyland, Hollywood, Sea World, etc.) This
is an example of what type of measurement?
A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) ratio
D) interval
3. A third psychologist, who is also interested in tourism, wants to measure the number of
people who visit Southern California from out of state every year. Number of people
is an example of what type of measurement?
A) Nominal
B) Ordinal
C) Ratio
D) interval
PSY 320/L Exam #1 - A (100 points)
Fall 2019 Professor Hess
p. 2 of 9
4. The three psychologists named above want to test the hypothesis that families who
visit Southern California from out of state spend an average of $3000 at each visit.
They collect information on the total amount of dollars spent by 150 families who
recently visited southern California from out of state. Their population of interest is:
A) the 150 families surveyed
B) of the 150 families surveyed, just those who spend over $3000 on their visit
C) all families who visit southern California from out of state
D) only families who spend $3,000 or less at their last visit
5. Professor Hess designs an exam that is way too hard, and most of his students
receive low scores. However, one student does very well on the test. Knowing this,
you could determine that the distribution of scores on this exam:
A) is positively skewed
B) is negatively skewed
C) is bimodal
D) has low kurtosis
6. What two terms would best describe a distribution with too much central tendency
in one region of the data?
A) Unimodal, low kurtosis
B) Unimodal, high kurtosis
C) Bimodal, low kurtosis
D) Bimodal, high kurtosis
7. In a positively skewed distribution, you would expect:
A) the mean and median to be less than the mode
B) the mean and mode to be less than the median
C) the mean, median, and mode to be exactly the same
D) the mean and median to be higher than the mode
8. Which of the following is a measure of the total spread of all scores from the mean?
A) variance
B) median
C) modality
D) skew
PSY 320/L Exam #1 - A (100 points)
Fall 2019
p. 3 of 9
Professor Hess
- You collect 100 participants’ scores on a depression scale and plot them on a
histogram. You then decide to convert all the scores to z-scores. Out of all these zscores,
only a few z-scores are less than -3. This means that your histogram…
A) has large outliers
B) has low outliers
C) has good central tendency
D) is normally distributed
10. In order to find the standard deviation of a group, you must:
A) square root the standard error
B) square the variance
C) square root the variance
D) subtract the mean from the variance
11. Deleting a potential outlier from a set of scores does what to the central tendency of
the data?
A) Deleting an outlier has no effect on the central tendency of a set of scores
B) It changes a bimodal distribution to a unimodal distribution
C) It increases the central tendency of the data.
D) It decreases the central tendency of the data.
12. Therapists who use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to treat Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder (OCD) often ask their patients to rate their level of “anxiety”
on a scale of 1 – 10 (with a score of 1 = lowest possible anxiety, 10 = highest
possible anxiety). This is an example of what type of measurement?
A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) ratio
D) interval
13. Therapists who use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to treat Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder will often ask their patients to rate their level of “stress” on a scale of
0 – 5 (with a score of 0 = no stress at all, 5 = highest possible stress). This is an
example of what type of measurement?
A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) ratio
D) interval
PSY 320/L Exam #1 - A (100 points)
Fall 2019 Professor Hess
p. 4 of 9
14. Psychiatrists who treat individuals with anxiety disorders have a variety of ways to
diagnose the specific type of anxiety disorder (e.g. OCD, Generalized Anxiety
Disorder, Hypochondriasis, etc.) This is an example of what type of measurement?
A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) ratio
D) interval
15. A psychologist is interested in the part of the day that people with Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder display compulsive behaviors (e.g. breakfast, midday, dinner,
before sleeping, etc.). This is an example of what type of measurement?
A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) ratio
D) interval
Short answer (6 items, 4 points each)
Answer each of the following questions. Read each question carefully before answering. Make
sure to write legibly—any answers that are not legible will not receive credit. - How are inferential statistics different from descriptive statistics? Please answer in one or two
sentences below. - Draw a negatively skewed histogram below. Show where the mean, mode, and median would
lie on the distribution. Make sure to clearly mark any outliers you might have. Do not forget to
include the “score” and “frequency” labels for each axis on the graph as well.
PSY 320/L Exam #1 - A (100 points)
Fall 2019 Professor Hess
p. 5 of 9 - Draw two histograms with unimodal distributions that have different levels of kurtosis. Draw
histogram A with higher kurtosis and histogram B with lower kurtosis. Clearly mark where
the mean, median, and mode are for each histogram. Make sure to include the appropriate
“score” and “frequency” labels on each histogram as well.
Histogram A: Histogram B: - Your friend received a score of 78 out of 100 points on a recent test. He knows that the mean on
the test was 62 points and the standard deviation was 8. Explain whether your friend's score
of 78 is considered normal or abnormal (statistically speaking). Your answer should only be
about 2 to 3 sentences in length. - Even though both of the following samples would be considered large, explain why it is
statistically better to have a sample of 1,000 participants instead of a sample of 100 people.
Answer in approximately 2-3 sentences.
PSY 320/L Exam #1 - A (100 points)
Fall 2019 Professor Hess
p. 6 of 9
Calculations (5 questions, points vary for each)
Answer the following questions. Read each question carefully before answering. Make sure to
show all the steps that lead you to your final answer! If you come to the right answer without
showing the necessary work, you will not receive any credit for the problem. For all problems,
round answers to two decimal points. Make sure to write legibly, and box your final answer. - In a study on parking violations at a local college, a reporter asks 12 students who recently
received a parking ticket, to report the amount of their fine in dollars. Scores ranged from $0 to
$50. The 12 participants’ scores are: 45, 47, 40, 38, 42, 49, 50, 18, 47, 50, 47, 44. Calculate
the mean, median, and mode of these scores. (5 points) - Calculate the variance and standard deviation for the following parking ticket fees (10 points):
75, 75, 85, 86, 60, 68, 60, 76, 55, 60 - Explain how good central tendency does not necessarily mean that a distribution of data has
normal variance. Give an example where the central tendency of a distribution might be good,
but the variance might be too high or too low.
PSY 320/L Exam #1 - A (100 points)
Fall 2019 Professor Hess
p. 7 of 9 - The following frequency table shows the speeds (in miles per hour) of 21 cars driving through
a school zone.
a. Fill in the missing percent values in the frequency table below. Make sure to round to 2
decimal places. SHOW ALL STEPS! (3 points)
Speed Frequency Percent
20 2
21 2
25 4
26 5
30 2
31 2
32 1
35 1
36 1
45 1
b. Find the mean, median, and mode of the 21 scores (5 points) - Some individuals took an IQ test where the mean = 100 and the standard deviation = 15. Find
each person’s z-score or actual IQ score given the following information. Round to two
decimal places for any answer. (2.5 points each; 10 points total)
a. Lishana: 137 (find the z-score)
b. Francisco: z = -0.45 (Find the actual IQ score)
c. Kristen: 87 (Find the z-score)
d. Dean: z = 1.15 (find the actual IQ score)
PSY 320/L Exam #1 - A (100 points)
Fall 2019 Professor Hess
p. 8 of 9 - Linda conducted a study on short term memory ability. She has her friends complete a short
term memory test where they are asked to try to recall a list of words in order. Descriptive
statistics are shown below:
Mean: 9.4 (words recalled) Standard Deviation: 4.67
a) Find the percent of scores on a standard bell curve that recalled less than 5 words.
(3 points)
b) Find the percent of scores on a standard bell curve that recalled more than 9 words.
(3 points)
c) Find the percent of scores on a standard bell curve that recalled between 8 words and 17 words.
(3 points)
d) Find the percent of scores on a standard bell curve that recalled more than 5 words.
(2 points)
e) Find the percent of scores on a standard bell curve that recalled less than 9 words.
(2 points)
PSY 320/L Exam #1 - A (100 points)
Fall 2019 Professor Hess
p. 9 of 9
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