Tharaki J Siyaguna
SAMPLE SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Learning objectives:
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Students will learn how to interpret and apply statistics and statistical techniques used in Psychology.
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Students will learn how to communicate scientific data and statistical analyses.
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Students will learn how to carry out scientific research in Psychology according to the scientific theory.
Rubric for question number 2.
PSYC 350: Research Methods I
Exam 1
You may use the calculator when necessary. The exam is worth a total of 50 points. Please answer all parts of every question, and please show all of your work.
1. APPLICATION. A group of researchers are interested in finding the distribution of students at NDSU. They want to make sure that their sample reflects the student population in terms of gender, ethnicity, and major. What is the best suited sampling method the researchers should follow? (2 points)
a) Quota sampling
b) Convenience/haphazard sampling
c) Snowball sampling
d) Stratified random sampling
2. A professor wants to determine whether studying in the morning or in the night is most effective for learning. He assigns half of the students to revise in the morning and the other half to revise in the night. A final percentage score is calculated for each student.
a) COMPREHENSION. What is the independent variable? How many levels does the IV have and what are they? (4 points)
b) COMPREHENSION. What is the dependent variable? (2 points)
c) COMPREHENSION. On what measurement scale is each variable measured? (2 points)
3. A group of researchers were interested in finding out what age groups are more likely to attend a Taylor Swift concert. A survey was handed over to each concert goer at a Taylor Swift concert. Below is a graph of the distribution.
a) KNOWLEDGE. What type of graph is depicted above? (2 points)
b) ANALYSIS. Describe the shape of the distribution. (4 points)
c) EVALUATION. Based on the graph above what might you infer about the age groups of the concertgoers? (4 points)
4. APLPICATION. Calculate the mean and standard deviation of the following set of scores: (5 points)
5. The following data represents the scores obtained by participants on an assessment tool measuring happiness.
a) APPLICATION. Calculate the mean, variance and the standard deviation of the above scores. (5 points)
b) SYNTHESIS. Construct a grouped frequency distribution and cumulative frequency distribution for the above data, using 10 intervals. (10 points)
a) APPLICATION. What score is at the 60th percentile (i.e., what score has 60% of scores below it)? (5 points)
b) APPLICATION. Mary scored 63 on the happiness scale. She wants to know what percent of participants are happier than she is. Find the percent of participants that are happier than Mary. (5 points)
REFLECTION
This assessment assesses knowledge on basic concepts of statistics. Assessing students on higher order cognitive skills as demonstrated by Bloom’s taxonomy has been found to enhance student learning (Crowe, Dirks &Wenderoth, 2008). This summative assessment consists of a lower order application level multiple choice question and low to high order cognitive level, short answer type of questions. Some of the short answer questions are lower order knowledge and comprehension types of questions. Many of the questions are higher order application types of questions along with few synthesis and evaluation type of questions. The aim on the assessment is to assess students on their deep understanding based on the answers to the higher order level questions. This type of assessment will help the instructor understand and monitor student learning and progress.
References
Crowe, A., Dirks, C., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2008). Biology in bloom: implementing Bloom's taxonomy to enhance student learning in biology. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 7(4), 368-381.