Midterm 1 Practice Questions

These questions will help you prepare for Midterm 1. Some of them take the form of midterm questions (i.e, multiple-
choice questions with 5 answer options), while others are of a different format but focus on concepts you should be
familiar with.

1. A researcher completes a paired samples t test on 27 pairs of participants. If her observed t=2.033, which of the
following is a correct statement of the results?
a. t(27)=2.033, p<.05
b. t(27)=2.033, p>.05
c. t(26)=2.033, p<.05
d. t(26)=2.033, p>.05
e. More information is needed to answer the question.

2. A researcher has a sample of 38 people with a mean of 35 and a standard deviation of 7. He thinks the sample
came from a population with a mean of 42. For this study,
a. z=6.16, p<.05
b. z=-6.16, p<.05
c. t(37)=-6.16, p<.05
d. t(37)=6.16, p>.05
e. z=-6.16, p>.05

3. A nutritionist investigates the impact of type of breakfast on mid-morning concentration. He gathers a sample of
50 adults. He feeds them a breakfast and 4 hours later measures their concentration on an interval-level
concentration test. On one day he feeds them bacon and eggs and on a second day he feeds them oatmeal and
fruit. He compares mean concentration on the different types of breakfasts. What type of test should be run in
this study?
a. One-sample z test
b. One-sample t test
c. Paired samples t test
d. Descriptive statistics
e. None of the above

4. A researcher for a health magazine compared the mean caffeine content for a sample of coffees served at coffee
houses to the USDA standard for the mean amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee. What statistical test should he
use?
a. Paired sample t test
b. Related samples t test
c. Dependent samples t test
d. One-sample t test (assuming he isn’t given USDA sigma)
e. z test

5. In Quebec, the average length of time the flu lasts is 6.30 days. An infectious disease physician has developed a
treatment that he believes will treat the flu more quickly. His DV is the number of days the flu lasts. The
hypotheses for the length of time flu lasts should be:

a. Ho: x new treatment ≥ x old treatment ; Ha: x new treatment < x oldtreatment
b. Ho: μnew treatment =μ oldtreatment ; μnew treatment ≠ μ oldtreatment
c. Ho: x new treatment =x old treatment ; Ha: x new treatment ≠ x old treatment
 d. Ho: μnew treatment < μold treatment ; Ha: μnew treatment > μold treatment
e. Ho: μnew treatment ≥ μ oldtreatment ; Ha: μnew treatment < μold treatment
f. Ho: x new treatment ≥ μold treatment ; Ha: x new treatment < μold treatment

6. If tcrit=+/-1.734,
a. how many people were in the study, assuming the test is one-tailed and alpha is 0.05?
b. and tobs=-1.91, do you reject your null hypothesis? Back your decision up with a numerical statement
(APA style).
c. If you change your test to a two-tailed test, does your conclusion change? Explain and give the
numerical statement.

7. Assume μo=10 and μa=13, with a one-tailed positive end test and alpha=.05. If μa changes to 12, what happens to
(hint: draw a picture!):
a. Power?
b. Type I error?
c. Type II error?
d. Does this make us more or less likely to miss a significant effect of the treatment?

8. Assume μo=12 and μa=8. Sigma for both distributions is 2. If sigma decreases to 1, what happens to (hint: draw a
picture!):
a. Power?
b. Type I error?
c. Type II error?
d. Does this make us more or less likely to falsely reject the null hypothesis?

9.

Based on the table above,

a. What type of test was run?

b. Was the assumption of homogeneity of variance met?
c. What is t observed?
d. Is there a significant difference in height for the two conditions?
e. Does it make sense to calculate effect size? Explain your answer.
f. If you were not given your p value, you could still have drawn the conclusion in d. Explain and show how
you would do this.
10. An elementary school principal has just learned of a new method of teaching arithmetic to Grade 2 students.
She is curious to see if the new method is better than the old one. She selects 30 students at random and assigns
them to work with the Grade 2 math teacher. Based on the students’ standardized test scores, the principal
matches them in terms of intellectual ability, forming 15 pairs. The teacher teaches arithmetic by the traditional
method to one member of each pair and uses the new method with the other 15 students. Both groups receive
equal amounts of instruction. Which member of each pair receives which instruction method is determined at
random. At the end of the year, the students take a standardized math test.
a. What test should you use to analyse these data?
b. You calculate tobs=4.78. What does this indicate? Justify your answer.
c. Imagine that power for this test was 0.50. Is this a concern for this conclusion?

11. A new brand of automobile tire is advertised to outlast the leading brand, which has a mean lifetime of 80,000
km. A consumer agency randomly selects 6 tires from the manufacturers first production run and tests the tires
on a machine that guarantees even tread wear.
a. What test should you use to analyse these data?
b. What is tcrit for this test?

12. In a one-tailed test with alpha=.01 we have rejected the null hypothesis. State whether each of the following is
true or false:
a. The probability that the null hypothesis is false is 0.99.

b. The probability that we made the wrong decision on the null is 0.01.

c. If we always use the .01 level of significance in our hypothesis testing, over the long run we will make a
wrong decision on the null hypothesis 1% of the time.

d. If we always use the .01 level of significance, over the long run we will make the wrong decision on the
null hypothesis on 1% of the occasions when we reject the null.

e. If we always use the .01 level of significance, over the long run we will make a wrong decision on the null
hypothesis on 1% of those occasions when we retain the null.

f. If we always use the .01 level of significance, over the long run we will make a wrong decision on the null
hypothesis on 1% of the occasions when the null is true.

13. Dr. Brown is a research director for a school district comprising 2500 students. She reads a test manual stating
that the national norm for Grade 6 students on a math achievement test is 85 with a standard deviation of 10.
She wants to know whether students in her district are performing at the same level. She selects a random 100
students from all Grade 6 students in the district and gives them the same test. They obtain a mean score of
87.1. Follow all the steps of hypothesis testing to test Dr. Brown’s hypothesis.
14. Assume that Dr. Brown wants to be more stringent and adjusts her alpha to 0.01 instead.
a. Does this change her conclusion?
b. A parent subsequently complains to Dr. Brown that the students are probably smarter but Dr. Brown’s
test wasn’t sensitive enough to see that.
i. In terms of Type I and Type II errors, what is the parent suggesting?
ii. Dr. Brown replies saying that although it was a strict test (alpha=.01), it was powerful
(power=0.98). Should this reassure the parent? Explain.