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Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5e

Chapter 16: Multiple choice questions

Results
You have answered 1 out of 10 questions correctly.
Your percentage score is 10%.

Question 1

What is the advantage of using SPSS over calculating statistics by hand?

Your answer:

b) It reduces the chance of making errors in your calculations

Correct answer:

c) It equips you with a useful transferable skill

Feedback:

Nowadays, most quantitative data analysts use SPSS or an equivalent statistical software package. Such tools are widely regarded as
being much faster and more efficient than mental arithmetic, as they can generate huge volumes of complex statistical data within seconds.
If you prepare a probability sample, SPSS can help you to produce high-quality results. If you have a very small data set, though, using
SPSS would be akin to using a sledge-hammer to crack a nut.
Page reference: 353

Question 2

In SPSS, what is the "Data Viewer"?

Your answer:

a) A table summarizing the frequencies of data for one variable

Correct answer:

b) A spreadsheet into which data can be entered

Feedback:

The Data Viewer is one of the two screens that comprise the Data Editor in SPSS, the other being the Variable Viewer. The Data Viewer is
a spreadsheet grid into which you can enter your data for analysis. It is actually the first screen you will see when you start up the
programme, and you can go to work straightaway by entering the data you have collected; questionnaire by questionnaire, interview by
interview etc.
Page reference: 355 (see plate 16.1)

Question 3

How is a variable name different from a variable label?

Your answer:

b) It is longer and more detailed

Correct answer:

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a) It is shorter and less detailed

Feedback:

Clicking the tab on the bottom of the Data Editor screen will switch the programme to the 'Variable View'. You are limited to eight characters
for the variable name, so there is a limit on how you can express the variable for the purposes of SPSS calculations. However, you can
enter a longer and more meaningful name as a variable label. SPSS will use the label for all printed output. An example within the Gym
example-dataset would be reasons. A variable label provides a more detailed description of what this means, and serves as a memo to
oneself: for example: reasons for visiting gym.
Page reference: 355

Question 4

What does the operation "Recode Into Different Variables" do to the data?

Your answer:

b) Reverses the position of the independent and dependent variable on a graph

Correct answer:

c) Redistributes a range of values into a new set of categories and creates a new variable

Feedback:

Recoding variables involves changing the way scores or values for a particular variable are distributed across the range. For example, "age"
(an interval/ratio variable) can be re-categorized into five different "age groups" (an ordinal variable). This creates a new variable (or
variables) and transforms the way in which a concept can be analyzed and represented.
Page reference: 357,358

Question 5

How would you use the drop-down menus in SPSS to generate a frequency table?

Your answer:

a) Open the Output Viewer and click: Save As; Pie Chart

Correct answer:

b) Click on: Analyze; Descriptive Statistics; Frequencies

Feedback:

Following this set of steps will open the "Frequencies" dialog box, in which you can select the variables you want to analyse and then click
"OK". It is worthwhile experimenting with the various drop-down menus to discover what else SPSS can do for you. Probably the best
course of action is to 'play' with the gym-set data until you feel you are comfortable with the programme, then input your own data.
Page reference: 360

Question 6

Why might you tell SPSS to represent the "slices" of a pie chart in different patterns?

Your answer:

b) Because the patterns form symbolic visual images of different social groups

Correct answer:

d) If you do not have a colour printer, it makes the differences between the slices clearer

Feedback:

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11/20/2020 Oxford University Press | Online Resource Centre | Multiple choice questions

If you only have access to a monochrome printer, this can make it difficult to see where the different coloured "slices" of a pie chart begin
and end. A practical solution is to represent groups of cases in terms of patterns rather than colours. Even if you have access to a colour
printer, it is usually much more expensive to print in colour than in 'black and white'. This might be the time to find out what facilities are
available to you in your institution and how the printing credits are calculated.
Page reference: 361

Question 7

When cross-tabulating two variables, it is conventional to:

Your answer:

d) Assign both the dependent and independent variables to rows

Correct answer:

c) Represent the dependent variable in rows and the independent variable in columns

Feedback:

It is conventional to represent an inferred relationship between two variables in this way because it makes tables easier to read. Typically
this is done when you feel you can make a claim of causality, so that a change in the independent variable produces a change in the
dependent variable. Similarly, when producing a bar chart or scatter-plot, you should assign the independent variable to the x axis (to
produce columns) and the dependent variable to the y axis (to produce horizontal readings).
Page reference: 367,

Question 8

In which sub-dialog box can the Chi Square test be found?

Your answer:

a) Frequencies: Percentages

Correct answer:

b) Crosstabs: Statistics

Feedback:

The Chi-square test is down a number of levels in the Analyse drop-down menu. The entire sequence would look like this: click 'Analyze';
select 'Descriptive Statistics'; select 'Crosstabs'; choose your dependent variable for the 'Row(s)' box and your independent variable for the
Column(s) box); click Cells, then check 'Observed', 'Column' and 'Round cell counts' on the Cell Display dialog box and then 'Continue';
back in the Crosstabs box, click 'Statistics', then check 'Chi-square' and 'Phi and Cramér's V' on the Statistics dialog box and then
'Continue'; finally, click 'OK' on the Crosstabs box and you will get an output like that shown in Table 16.2 on page 364.
Page reference: 363-366

Question 9

To generate a Spearman's rho test, which set of instructions should you give SPSS?

Your answer:

b) Graphs; Frequencies; [select variables]; Spearman; OK

Correct answer:

d) Analyze; Correlate; Bivariate; [select variables]; Spearman; OK

Feedback:

Spearman's rho is a test of correlation, so we should expect to find the SPSS function under 'Analyse' - 'Correlate'. Selecting 'Bivariate'
opens up the "Bivariate Correlations" dialog box and allows you to generate a coefficient to show the strength of the relationship between
variables you selected. Plate 16.16 on page 367 shows the dialog box featuring age, cardmins and weimins as the selected variables.

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Remember, Spearman is used when one or both variables are ordinal (Table 16.3, on page 366, shows the output for a Pearson test).
Page reference: 363 (and see plate 16.16 on page 367)

Question 10

How would you print a bar chart that you have just produced in SPSS?

Your answer:

a) In Output Viewer, click File, Print, select the bar chart and click OK

Feedback:

This is a straightforward way of printing your bar chart as a piece of "output" from SPSS. If you do not specify which things you want to print
from the output summary box on the left of the screen, SPSS will print all of the graphs and tables in the Output Viewer. You can also locate
a printer 'icon' like you have seen in many other computer programmes, which will open a 'Print dialog box'. SPSS will warn you that your
output has not been saved if you try to close the Output Editor. If that should happen, save your output as a file (SPSS gives you many
types to choose from) and decide later on which material you want to print (and even which programme to print from).
Page reference: 370

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