Counseling Research and Program Evaluation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which scale of measurement has equal intervals and a true zero point?
- Nominal
- Ordinal
- Interval
- Ratio (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Ratio
Ratio scales, such as number of counseling sessions attended, have equal intervals and an absolute zero.
Question 2: A researcher wants to compare mean depression scores across three different treatment groups. Which statistical test is most appropriate?
- Independent samples t-test
- One-way ANOVA (Correct answer)
- Chi-square test of independence
- Pearson correlation
Correct answer: One-way ANOVA
A one-way ANOVA compares means across three or more independent groups on one factor.
Question 3: A researcher examines whether gender is related to preference for individual versus group counseling, using frequency counts. Which test fits best?
- Chi-square test of independence (Correct answer)
- Pearson r
- Paired samples t-test
- ANCOVA
Correct answer: Chi-square test of independence
Chi-square tests whether two categorical (nominal) variables are associated using frequency data.
Question 4: A Type I error occurs when a researcher:
- Fails to reject a false null hypothesis
- Rejects a true null hypothesis (Correct answer)
- Uses too small a sample size
- Accepts the alternative hypothesis correctly
Correct answer: Rejects a true null hypothesis
A Type I error is a false positive, rejecting a null hypothesis that is actually true, with probability equal to alpha.
Question 5: According to Cohen's conventions, an effect size (d) of 0.80 is considered:
- Negligible
- Small
- Medium
- Large (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Large
Cohen labeled d values of 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8 as small, medium, and large, respectively.
Question 6: In a positively skewed distribution, which ordering of central tendency measures is typical?
- Mean > median > mode (Correct answer)
- Mode > median > mean
- Median > mean > mode
- Mean = median = mode
Correct answer: Mean > median > mode
In a positive skew, the tail extends to the right and pulls the mean above the median and mode.
Question 7: Increasing sample size while holding other factors constant generally does what to statistical power?
- Decreases it
- Has no effect on it
- Increases it (Correct answer)
- Makes it equal to alpha
Correct answer: Increases it
Larger samples reduce standard error, making true effects easier to detect and increasing power.