Test bank herman aguinis – performance management ch20
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Chapter 20—Basic Data Analysis: Descriptive Statistics
TRUE/FALSE
1. The researcher examining descriptive statistics for any particular variable is using univariate statistics.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 486
2. The type of measurement scale used in the research study determines the possible statistical tests that
can be used appropriately with the resulting data.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 486
3. All statistics that are appropriate to use for higher-order scales (ratio scales are the highest) are also
appropriate to use with lower-order scales (nominal scales are the lowest).
ANS: F
All statistics appropriate for lower-order scales (nominal is the lowest) are suitable for higher-order
scales (ratio is the highest).
PTS: 1
REF: p. 486
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
4. A planogram is a graphical way of showing the frequency distribution in which the height of a bar
corresponds to the frequency of a category.
ANS: F
This is a histogram.
PTS: 1
REF: p. 487
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
5. Tabulation refers to the orderly arrangement of data in a table or other summary format.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 488
6. Cross-tabulation allows the inspection and comparison of differences among groups based on nominal
or ordinal categories.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 488
7. A contingency table is a data matrix that displays the frequency of some combination of possible
responses to multiple variables.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 489
8. The row and column totals in a contingency table are called subtotals because they are less than the
total.
© 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in
whole or in part.
ANS: F
They are called marginals because they appear in the table’s margins.
PTS: 1
REF: p. 489
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
9. Researchers usually are most interested in the marginals in a contingency table.
ANS: F
They usually are more interested in the inner cells of a contingency table.
PTS: 1
REF: p. 489
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
10. A 3 x 4 table represents a contingency table with twelve variables.
ANS: F
This represents a two-way contingency table displaying two variables - one with three levels and the
other with four levels.
PTS: 1
REF: p. 490
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
11. In cross-tabulation of data, the basic rule is to compute the percentages in the direction of the
dependent variable.
ANS: F
The marginal total of the independent variable should be used as the base for computing the
percentages.
PTS: 1
REF: p. 491
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
12. A common form of elaboration analysis is to do cross-tabulation of data within subgroups of the
sample under study.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 492
13. When a third variable inserted into the analysis changes the results when two other variables were
studied previously, this third variable is called a moderator variable.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 492
14. When responses to two rating scale questions are plotted in four quadrants of a two- dimensional table,
the result is called a histogram.
ANS: F
This is called quadrant analysis.
PTS: 1
REF: p. 493
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
15. The process of changing data from their original form to a format that more closely fits the research
objectives of the research study is called data transformation.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 493
© 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in
whole or in part.
16. Combining the data from adjacent categories of a Likert-scale item is a common form of data
transformation.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 493
17. An index split means respondents below the observed median go into one category and respondents
above the median go into another.
ANS: F
This is called a median split.
PTS: 1
REF: p. 494
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
18. When a data set is unimodal, a median split of the data will lead to error.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 495
19. When ranking data are transformed, the frequency of the ranking score should be divided by the score.
ANS: F
The transformation involves multiplying the frequency by the ranking score for each choice to result in
a new scale.
PTS: 1
REF: p. 496
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
20. The purpose of a table in a research report is to summarize and communicate the meaning of the data
to the reader.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 498
21. Even with toady’s advances in technology, computing power is still a barrier to completing a research
project.
ANS: F
Today, computing power is seldom a barrier to completing a research project.
PTS: 1
REF: p. 499
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
22. Box and whisker plots provide graphic representations of central tendencies, percentiles, variabilities,
and the shapes of frequency distributions.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 501
23. An extreme value that lies far outside of the normal range of most of the data in a distribution (either
as a very high score or as a very low score) is called an outlier.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 501
© 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in
whole or in part.
24. In business research, the process of interpretation should explain the meaning of the data in the
research study to the reader of the research report.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 501
25. Data are sometimes merely reported and not interpreted.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 502
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. The transformation of raw data into a form that makes the data easier to understand and to interpret is
called:
a. descriptive analysis
b. outlier analysis
c. computer mapping
d. creating a box and whisker plot
ANS: A
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 486
2. The researcher examining descriptive statistics for any particular variable is using which type of
statistics?
a. multivariate
b. interval
c. nominal
d. univariate
ANS: D
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 486
3. Which of the following is a graphical way of showing the frequency distribution in which the height of
a bar corresponds to the frequency of a category?
a. perceptual map
b. histogram
c. contingency table
d. frequency chart
ANS: B
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 487
4. Arranging data into a table is called:
a. tabulation
b. frequency
c. analysis
d. interpretation
ANS: A
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 488
5. Counting the number of responses to questions in a survey by hand is called:
a. index analysis
© 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in
whole or in part.
b. tallying
c. elaboration analysis
d. moderator analysis
ANS: B
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 488
6. Arranging data so that the number of times each category occurs is called a(n) ________ table.
a. cross-tabulation
b. frequency
c. percentage
d. pre-coding
ANS: B
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 488
7. Counting the number of responses to different parts of a question in a survey and arranging these
responses in a frequency distribution is called:
a. elaboration analysis
b. spurious analysis
c. marginal tabulation
d. index analysis
ANS: C
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 488
8. If 60 males are asked if they recognize the brand name, "Focus," and 35 of them correctly identify the
product as a model of Ford’s product line within Ford Motor Co., the proportion of males in the sample
who recognize this brand name is approximately:
a. .60
b. .58
c. .35
d. .79
ANS: B
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 488
9. Which of the following is the appropriate technique for addressing research questions involving
relationships among multiple less-than interval variables?
a. cross-tabulation
b. ANOVA
c. regression
d. cluster analysis
ANS: A
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 488
10. A researcher interested in a data matrix that displays the frequency of some combination of possible
responses to multiple variables should construct a:
a. perceptual map
b. contingency table
c. regression equation
d. marginal table
ANS: B
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 489
© 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in
whole or in part.
11. Carlos is examining the row and column totals in a contingency table. What are these called?
a. marginals
b. subtotals
c. totals
d. running totals
ANS: A
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 489
12. If a researcher wants to summarize the responses of subjects by gender and awareness of a particular
brand ("Yes" or "No"), he or she would use a ______ contingency table.
a. 1 x 2
b. 2 x 2
c. 2 x 3
d. normal
ANS: B
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 490
13. The number of respondents or observations (in a row or column) used as a basis for computing
percentages in a contingency table is referred to as a(n):
a. reference point
b. moderator
c. statistical base
d. analytical point
ANS: C
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 490
14. The conventional rule for computing percentages in a contingency table is to compute the percentages
in the direction of the:
a. independent variable
b. marginal totals
c. dependent variable
d. column mean
ANS: A
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 491
15. Breaking down the answer to the question: "Have you ever purchased a ticket online for an American
Airlines flight?" into subgroups based on gender and zip code is an example of:
a. a box and whisker plot analysis
b. an index number
c. elaboration analysis
d. interquartile analysis
ANS: C
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 492
16. When a third variable is included in the analysis that is studying the relationship between an
independent variable and a dependent variable, and this third variable changes the relationship between
the independent variable and the dependent variable in an important way, this third variable is called
a(n):
a. spurious variable
© 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in
whole or in part.
b. moderator variable
c. contingency variable
d. outlier variable
ANS: B
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 492
17. It is hypothesized that an individual’s style of processing information (i.e., verbal or visual) will
influence the impact an advertising execution will have on attitudes toward the brand advertised. Style
of processing, then, is considered which type of variable?
a. dependent variable
b. external variable
c. internal variable
d. moderating variable
ANS: D
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 492
18. Which of the following is an extension of cross-tabulation in which responses to two rating-scale
questions are plotted in four quadrants of a two-dimensional table?
a. performance analysis
b. transformation analysis
c. quadrant analysis
d. median split analysis
ANS: C
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 493
19. An analysis that compares the answer to the question: "How important is each of these attributes to
you for an overnight delivery service?" (e.g. on-time delivery, accurate invoicing, price, and so forth)
when comparing several delivery service companies with a rating scale that rates these companies on
the quality of their service on these same attributes is known as a(n):
a. moderator analysis
b. contingency analysis
c. importance-performance analysis
d. index analysis
ANS: C
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 493
20. Another name for data transformation is:
a. index analysis
b. data conversion
c. quadrant analysis
d. data exchange
ANS: B
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 493
21. When a respondent's answers to ten Likert-scale items are added up to form a total subset score for
these questions, this is an example of:
a. data indexing
b. data transformation
c. contingency analysis
d. data indexing
© 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in
whole or in part.
ANS: B
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 493
22. When a researcher combines the "Strongly Disagree" and "Disagree" responses on a Likert scale item
to a single "Strongly Disagree/Disagree" percentage, this is an example of:
a. data indexing
b. collapsing the data
c. the outlier effect
d. a box and whisker plot
ANS: B
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 493
23. Data with which type of distribution are appropriate for division based on the median split?
a. normally distributed
b. unimodal distribution
c. bimodal distribution
d. uniform distribution
ANS: C
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 494
24. Scores or observations recalibrated to indicate how they relate to a base number are referred to as:
a. index numbers
b. rank orders
c. elaborated numbers
d. real numbers
ANS: A
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 496
25. Index numbers require which level of measurement?
a. nominal
b. interval
c. ratio
d. ranked
ANS: C
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 496
26. Which of the following is used to simplify and clarify data?
a. tables
b. graphs
c. charts
d. all of the above
ANS: D
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 498
27. All of the following are software packages that can be used for data analysis EXCEPT:
a. Excel
b. SPSS
c. SAS
d. Word
ANS: D
PTS: 1
REF: p. 499
© 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in
whole or in part.
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking| AACSB: Technology
28. A researcher desires a graphical representation of central tendencies, percentiles, variabilities, and the
shapes of frequency distributions of the data. Which of the following will do this for the researcher?
a. interquartile map
b. perceptual map
c. histogram
d. box and whisker plot
ANS: D
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 501
29. A researcher is reviewing average household income data and sees that one household reported an
annual income of over $1 million. This value lies outside the normal range of the data and is called
a(n):
a. abnormality
b. marginal
c. outlier
d. quartile
ANS: C
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 501
30. When a researcher makes inferences about the meaning of the data from a research study and draws
conclusions about what these data mean in terms of their implications, this is an example of:
a. data indexing
b. data analysis
c. quadrant analysis
d. data interpretation
ANS: D
PTS: 1
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
REF: p. 501
COMPLETION
1. A graph in which the height of a bar matches the frequency with which that category occurred is called
a(n) ____________________.
ANS: histogram
PTS: 1
REF: p. 487
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
2. The orderly arrangement of data into a table is known as ____________________.
ANS: tabulation
PTS: 1
REF: p. 488
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
3. The arrangement of data into a row-and-column format that gives the number of responses for each
category of the variable is known as a(n) ____________________ table.
ANS: frequency
PTS: 1
REF: p. 488
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
© 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in
whole or in part.
4. When tabulation is done by hand to create a frequency table, this is called ____________________ the
data.
ANS: tallying
PTS: 1
REF: p. 488
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
5. The appropriate technique for addressing research question involving relationships among multiple
less-than interval variables is ____________________.
ANS: cross-tabulation
PTS: 1
REF: p. 488
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
6. When the responses to two survey questions are presented as a cross-tabulation of the two variables
studied in these two questions, the result is called a(n) ____________________ table.
ANS: contingency
PTS: 1
REF: p. 488
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
7. A two-way contingency table is referred to as a(n) ____________________ table.
ANS: 2 x 2
PTS: 1
REF: p. 490
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
8. An analysis of the cross-tabulations for each level of a variable as it applies to sub-groups of the
sample is known as ____________________ analysis.
ANS: elaboration
PTS: 1
REF: p. 492
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
9. When a third variable changes in important ways the relationship between an independent variable and
a dependent variable, this third variable is called a(n) ____________________ variable.
ANS: moderator
PTS: 1
REF: p. 492
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
10. When responses to two rating scale questions are plotted in four quadrants of a two- dimensional
graph, this is called ____________________ analysis.
ANS: quadrant
PTS: 1
REF: p. 493
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
11. The process of changing data from its original form to a format that more closely matches the research
objectives of the study is called data ____________________.
ANS: transformation
© 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in
whole or in part.
PTS: 1
REF: p. 493
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
12. Scores or observations recalibrated to indicate how they relate to a base number are called
____________________ numbers.
ANS: index
PTS: 1
REF: p. 496
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
13. A graphic representation of the range, central tendency, percentiles, and variabilities of a variable is
called a(n) ____________________ plot.
ANS: box and whisker
PTS: 1
REF: p. 501
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
14. A value that lies far beyond the range of the rest of the data set is called a(n) ____________________.
ANS: outlier
PTS: 1
REF: p. 501
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
15. Making inferences about the data and drawing conclusions about the implications suggested by a
research study is called ____________________.
ANS: interpretation
PTS: 1
REF: p. 501
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
ESSAY
1. What are descriptive statistics and why are they used in business research?
ANS:
Descriptive analysis is the elementary transformation of data in a way that describes the basic
characteristics such as central tendency, distribution, and variability. Averages, medians, modes,
variance, range, and standard deviation typify widely applied descriptive statistics that can summarize
responses from large numbers of respondents.
PTS: 1
REF: p. 486
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking| AACSB: Communication
2. Explain what a contingency table is and discuss how it is useful in business research.
ANS:
A contingency table is a data matrix that displays the frequency of some combination of possible
responses to multiple variables. Two-way contingency tables, meaning they involve two less-than
interval variables, are used most often. The row and column totals often are called marginals because
they appear in the table’s margins. Researchers usually are more interested in the inner cells of a
contingency table because they display conditional frequencies (combinations). Using these values,
we can draw more specific conclusions.
PTS: 1
REF: p. 489
© 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in
whole or in part.
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking| AACSB: Communication
3. Explain what an index number is and how it is computed. What level of measurement is required to
compute index numbers?
ANS:
Index numbers represent simple data transformations that allow researchers to track a variable’s value
over time and compare a variable with other variables. Recalibration allows scores or observations to
be related to a certain base period or base number. To calculate an index number, a base number is
first selected. Index numbers are computed by dividing the score for each category by the base
number and multiplying by 100. If the data are time-related, a base year is chosen, and the index
numbers are computed by dividing each year’s activity by the base-year activity and multiplying by
100. Index numbers require ratio measurement scales.
PTS: 1
REF: p. 496
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking| AACSB: Communication
4. List different computer software products designed for descriptive statistical analysis.
ANS:
Excel, SAS, SPSS, and MINITAB.
PTS: 1
REF: p. 499
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking| AACSB: Communication| AACSB: Technology
5. Explain the components of a box and whisker plot.
ANS:
Box and whisker plots provide graphic representations of central tendencies, percentiles, variabilities,
and the shapes of frequency distributions. The response categories to a question are shown on the
vertical axis. The small box inside the plot represents responses for half of all respondents. This gives
a measure of variability called the interquartile range (or midspread). The location of the line within
the box indicates the median. The dashed lines that extend from the top and bottom of the box are the
whiskers. Each whisker extends either the length of the box or to the most extreme observation in that
direction. An outlier is a value that lies outside the normal range of the data. The plots are
particularly useful for spotting outliers or comparing group categories (e.g., men vs. women).
PTS: 1
REF: p. 501
NAT: AACSB: Reflective Thinking| AACSB: Communication| AACSB: Technology
© 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in
whole or in part.
