RMA3 Mock Exam answers

1. A researcher is interested in whether there is a relationship between daily temperature and

the amount of time that students study. She measures the temperature each day for six months, and
the mean number of hours spent in the library by a group of students. What test is required to test
the hypothesis that study time is related to temperature?

Independent t-test
Paired t-test
One-way ANOVA
Pearsons correlation.

2. A researcher is interested in comparing the effectiveness of two different scuba diving courses.
He assembles a boat-full of divers (twenty from each course), and takes them to a nearby barrier
reef. Each diver makes one dive, in which he attempts to stay safely below the water for 40 minutes.
The researcher then measures the number of divers from each course who successfully stay below
the water for 40 minutes before returning to the surface compared to those who return to the surface
earlier. Which test should the researcher use in order to see if there is a significant difference
between the effectiveness of the different training courses?

Independent t-test
Paired t-test
Chi-Squared.
Mann-Whitney U

2. In response to claims that A-levels are easier now than they were 20 years ago, a group of
current sixth-formers are given two English exams, one a copy of the 1980 A-level paper, and the
other a copy of the 2005 A-level paper. Each student provides a mark for each exam, out of 100.
Their scores for the 1980 paper are heavily skewed. Which statistical test should be used to test the
hypothesis that English exams used to be harder than they are nowadays?

Spearmans correlation
Paired t-test
Wilcoxon
Mann-Whitney U

3. Researchers wants to find out if there is a relationship between length of service in

academia and levels of obsession. The obsession level of each of fifty lecturers was measured by
questionnaire. The length of time that each lecturer had been in the university was also recorded.
After collecting these data, it was found that the scores were somewhat skewed towards the "highly
obsessive" end of the scale. Which test should be used to measure the strength of the relationship
between obsession and length of time in employment?

Independent t-test
Paired t-test
Pearsons correlation
Spearmans correlation

6
4. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many comedians' choice of career can be traced to their
childhood experiences of using comedy in order to avoid being bullied at school. 200 comedians
and 300 member of the public were interviewed and asked whether or not this use of comedy was
true of them personally. What test should be used to test the hypothesis that bullying encourages
children to follow a career in comedy?

One-way ANOVA
Paired t-test
Independent t-test
Chi-Squared.

5. If you perform a one-tailed statistical test, your hypothesis is:

That two different measurements are unpredictable from each other.

That the difference between your groups will be in a specific direction.
That the experiment was conducted double blind.
That the variance of two measurements does not differ significantly.

7. If a sample is unrepresentative, this implies:

That one single measurement was not typical and therefore not useful.
That this sample should not be used to make inferences about the population.
That the data are not normally distributed.
That not enough data were collected.

8. 18. What is the range of the scores:

25 19 13 30 38 22

25
26
20
19

9. 18. What is the standard deviation of the scores:

12 10 14 17 13 12 11

3.43
4.31
2.99
2.29
 For Q10-13, please describe the distribution of data in terms of normality or non-normality in
the boxes below the figures.
Q10 Q12

7
3.0

2.5 N = 25 6 N = 50
5
2.0

Frequency
Frequency

4
1.5

1.0

0.5
1

0.0
60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 0
IQ 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140
IQ

Q13 Q14
20 60

18 50

16 40
Variable B
Variable B

14 30

12 20

10 10

8 0
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Variable A Variable A

Q10 1 mark

Q11 1 mark

Q12 1 mark

Q13 1 mark
Q14 The next seven questions refer to the following study. Identify the research design, variables,
type and distribution of data and the appropriate test to be used. Please write your answers in
Answer Table 15.

Researchers wanted to investigate whether running a marathon in an undulating area (Marathon 1)

would result in any time difference compared to a flat course (Marathon 2). The same set of
runners were asked to complete each course a week apart with conditions counterbalanced across
participants. Participants finishing times were recorded in minutes. The researchers hypothesised
that the flat course would be run in significantly less time than the undulating course.

Question Answer Marks

14 Design 1

15 Independent variable(s) and 1

levels if appropriate

16 Dependent variable 1

17 Type of data being measured 1

18 Appropriate test if data 1

normally distributed

19 Appropriate test if data not 1

normally distributed

Q20 After analysing the decision time data in the study above, the SPSS output was as follows:

Paired Samples Statistics

Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Marathon1 226.82 39 61.204 9.800

Pair 1
Marathon2 204.69 39 52.285 8.372

Paired Samples Test

Paired Differences t df Sig. (2-tailed)

Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean 95% Confidence Interval of the
Difference

Lower Upper

Pair 1 Marathon1 - Marathon2 22.128 21.486 3.440 15.163 29.093 6.432 38 .000

Write up the result of the test in the following box (1 mark)