Prelim Quiz: Behavioral Statistics! Exam

Gender is categorized as nominal because it is a categorical variable that does not have any inherent order or numerical value. Nominal variables represent different categories or groups, such as male and female in the case of gender. There is no meaningful way to rank or order these categories, making it a nominal variable.

The dependent variable is the variable that is being measured or observed in an experiment. It is called "dependent" because its value depends on the outcome of the independent variable. In other words, the value of the dependent variable changes in response to changes in the independent variable. Therefore, the correct answer is dependent variable.

The dependent variable in this study would be the heart rate. This is because the researcher is interested in how stress affects heart rate, therefore heart rate is the variable that would be measured and observed in response to the stress. The other options, such as stress, interest, and humans, are not the variables being directly measured or observed in this study.

In a correlational study, the independent variable is the predictor variable. This means that the researcher is interested in examining how changes in the predictor variable are related to changes in the dependent variable. The researcher does not manipulate the predictor variable but rather observes and measures it to determine its relationship with the dependent variable. The predictor variable is used to predict or estimate the value of the dependent variable.

In correlational research, the dependent variable is known as the criterion variable. This is because the criterion variable is the variable that is being measured or predicted based on the relationship with other variables. It is the variable that researchers are interested in understanding or explaining based on the correlations with other variables.

In a regression analysis, both variables should be at least interval. This is because interval variables have equal intervals between values and allow for meaningful mathematical operations like addition and subtraction. Having interval variables ensures that the relationship between the variables can be accurately measured and analyzed using regression analysis techniques.

In a t-test, the dependent variable should be at least interval. This is because a t-test is a statistical test that is used to compare the means of two groups. Interval variables have equal intervals between their values, allowing for meaningful mathematical operations such as addition and subtraction. This is important in order to calculate the t-value and determine if there is a significant difference between the means of the two groups being compared. Therefore, an interval variable is necessary for conducting a t-test accurately.

In the context of analysis of variance, the independent variable should be nominal. This means that it should consist of categories or groups that are not inherently ordered or ranked. Nominal variables are used to classify data into distinct groups or categories, without any specific order or numerical value assigned to them. In analysis of variance, the independent variable is used to compare the means of different groups or categories, and a nominal variable is suitable for this purpose as it allows for the comparison of distinct groups without any inherent ranking or order.

The independent variable in this study would be stress. This is because the researcher is interested in examining how stress affects heart rate in humans. By manipulating the level of stress experienced by participants, the researcher can observe any changes in heart rate. Heart rate, on the other hand, would be the dependent variable, as it is the outcome that is being measured and is expected to be influenced by the independent variable of stress.