PSYC 354 Homework 1 Liberty University

Part I: Concepts

These questions cover the Nolan and Heinzen reading and end-of-chapter questions as well as basic SPSS functions covered in this module/week’s Green and Salkind reading and presentations.

Fill in the blank with the appropriate word or words.

1.     A statistic that uses sample data to make general estimates about the larger population is a(n) __ statistic.

 2.     A statistic that summarizes a group of numbers is a(n) ____ statistic.

 3.     A(n) ____ is a set of observations drawn from the larger group of interest.

 4.     The large group about which you want to know something is called a(n) __.

 5.     A five-star rating system for movies is a(n) ___ _____ measure.

 6.     A person's political affiliation is a _______ measure.

 7.     A(n) _______ is a variable that meets the criteria for an interval and ratio variable.

 8.     Discrete values that the independent variable can take on are called the ______ of the independent variable.

 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.  _______ is the process of drawing conclusions about whether or not a particular relation between variables is supported by the data.

 12.  The hallmark of a(n) ___ is the random assignment of participants to conditions so that cause and effect can be discovered.

 13.  When each participant has the same chance of being assigned to the various levels of the manipulation, they are said to be ____ to conditions.

 14.  Each participant experiences all levels of the independent variable in a(n) _____ design.

 15.  Participants experience only one level of the independent variable in a(n) _____ design.

                                                                                        

Answer the following questions:

 1.     A study of the effects of skin tone (light, medium, dark) on the severity of facial wrinkles in middle age might be of interest to cosmetic surgeons.

a.     What would the independent variable be in this study? 

b.     What would the dependent variable be in this study? 

c.     How many levels would the independent variable have? 

 2.     Hsee and Tang (2007) reported the results of a study in which 195 college students completed a happiness scale (from 1 to 7) just prior to taking their midterm exam. On this scale, 1 corresponded to very unhappy and 7 to very happy. On average, the students rated their happiness as 6.18. Identify each of the following for this study.

a.     Population : 

b.     Sample :

c.     Dependent variable: 

d.     Descriptive statistic: 

 3.     In which window do you enter data in SPSS? 

 4.     Which window displays the results of your analysis in SPSS? 

 5.     Which SPSS main menu would you use to choose a particular statistical test? 

 6.     If you wanted to custom define a variable in SPSS, which window would you open? 

 7.     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.

a.     Which main SPSS menu contains the option for computing a variable like this? 

b.     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.)