This document contains 30 multiple choice questions that appear to be from a final exam for an RES 341 research methods course. The questions cover a range of topics in research methods including experimental design, measurement scales, probability, descriptive and inferential statistics, hypothesis testing, and statistical process control.

1. RES 341 FINAL EXAMS
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1) Unstructured interviews are best used for
A. measuring worker productivity
B. solving manufacturing defect problems
C. assessing management effectiveness
D. asking individualized questions with no specific order
2) A recent study of breast cancer revealed that 13% of the women in the sample used antibiotics
more than 500 days in their lifetime. Further, 79% of these “heavy antibiotics users” developed
breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, one in twelve women will develop
breast cancer at some time in her life. Of the numbers mentioned, which are parameters?
A. 13% and 79%
B. 13% and one in twelve
C. 79% and 500 days
D. 79% and one in twelve
3) Basic business research methods would be used to
A. identify factors that affect worker absenteeism
B. evaluate a retail store’s inventory tracking system
C. assess consumer acceptance of a redesigned computer keyboard
D. determine the effect of a 10% price increase on the sale of school supplies
4) The collection and summarization of the socioeconomic and physical characteristics of the
employees of a particular firm is an example of
A. inferential statistics
B. descriptive statistics
C. a parameter
D. an estimation

2. 5) Which of the following is an example of statistical inference?
A. Counting the number of patients who file malpractice suits after being discharged from
hospitals in New York
B. Calculating the mean number of fruit trees damaged by Mediterranean fruit flies in
California last year
C. Calculating the mean age of patients discharged from hospitals in New York in 1997
D. Calculating the amount of fly spray needed for your orchard next season
6) A logically conjectured statement that describes the relationship between two or more
variables and is formulated for empirical testing is a
A. hypothesis
B. theory
C. construct
D. thesis statement RES 341 Final Exam
7) The variable that causes a measurable effect or change on the dependent variable is
A independent
B. dependent
C. intervening
D. moderating
8) Survey questionnaires may be effectively used for research to determine
A. defect rates in automobile parts coming off a production line
B. the effect of price changes on sales volume
C. the attitudes of prospective voters
D. how temperature and humidity affect concrete cure time
9) A company is designing a survey to obtain information on the reliability of a product it sells.
To obtain the most valid research information, who should the company send this type of survey
to?
A. A random sample of its customers

3. B. Vendors
C. Customers who have bought the product
D. Employees
10) The following practice is considered ethical when conducting business research:
A. Disclosing some, but not all, financial interests that may affect research
B. Allowing participants to withdraw from a business research project whenever they ask to do
so
C. Keeping minimal records of research activities and research design
D. Revealing only a small part of the purpose of the business research project
11) If a population distribution is skewed to the right, then given a random sample from that
population, one would expect that the
A. median is greater than the mean
B. mode is equal to the mean
C. median is less than the mean
D. median is equal to the mean
12) RES 341 Final Exam
Textbook Price Number of Textbooks
$25 to $35 2
$35 to $45 16
$45 to $55 5
$55 to $65 7
$65 to $75 20
Estimate the standard deviation of the price of a textbook.
A. 14.03
B. 33.85
C. 196.78

4. D. 729.00
13)
Textbook Price Number of Textbooks
$25 to $34.99 2
$35 to $44.99 16
$45 to $54.99 5
$55 to $64.99 7
$65 to $74.99 20
Estimate the mean price of a textbook.
A. $554.00
B. $11.08
C. $60.00
D. $55.40
14) A supermarket has determined that daily demand for eggs has a bell-shaped distribution,
with a mean of 55 cartons and a standard deviation of six cartons. If the supermarket begins each
morning with a stock of 61 cartons of eggs, approximately what percentage of days will there be
a surplus of eggs?
A. 16%
B. 18%
C. 68%
D. 84%
15) Which of these measurement scales has a rank order associated with its use?
A. Ratio
B. Ordinal
C. Nominal
D. Likert

5. 16) Identify the scale that has no meaningful zero.
A. Nominal
B. Ordinal
C. Interval
D. Ratio
17) __________ is a measure of the chance that an uncertain event will occur.
A. Random experiment
B. Sample space
C. Probability
D. A complement
18) The Information Commons in the main library has 150 personal computers. The probability
that any of them will require repair on a given day is 0.02. To find the probability that 25 of the
computers will require repair, one would use what type of probability distribution?
A. Binomial
B. Poisson
C. Normal
D. Hypergeometric
19) A multiple-choice test has 20 questions. There are four choices for each question. A student
comes to class with four different colored balls of identical shape and size in her pocket. She has
decided to draw one ball from her pocket per question and allow the color of the ball to select the
answer for each question. What type of probability distribution can be used to figure out her
chance of getting 10 questions right?
A. Hypergeometric
B. Poisson
C. Normal
D. Binomial
20) Which of the following cannot generate a Poisson distribution?

6. A. The number of people at a movie theatre on Friday evening
B. The number of customers arriving at an automatic teller machine (ATM) in a minute
C. The number of defects in a new automobile
D. The number of goals in the World Cup soccer game
21) Which of the following is a characteristic of every binomial distribution?
A. Each outcome is dependent on the previous outcome.
B. The probability of success increases from trial to trial.
C. Each outcome is mutually exclusive.
D. The outcome of the trial depends on the number of trials.
22) The average qualifying speed for a championship NASCAR® race is 145.65 mph and the
standard deviation is 9.45 mph. Only drivers who obtain z-scores greater than 1.2 will qualify for
the race. If the speeds are normally distributed, what minimum speed must be clocked to
compete for the trophy?
A. 146.9 mph
B. 155.2 mph
C. 157.0 mph
D. 174.8 mph
23) Trudy Jones recently completed her certification examination and learned that her z-score
was -2.5. The examining board also informed her that a failure to pass would equal all scores that
were one or more standard deviations below the mean and that those with scores higher than two
standard deviations above the mean would receive a special commendation award. Trudy can
conclude that she
A. failed the exam
B. needs more data to determine if she passed the exam
C. passed the exam and will receive a special commendation award
D. passed the exam, but no commendation award is forthcoming
24) The use of the student’s distribution requires which of the following assumptions?
A. The sample size is greater than 30.

7. B. The population variance is known.
C. The population is normal.
D. The sample is drawn from a positively skewed distribution.
25) The standard error of the sample mean is equal to 5 when n=25. If the sample size increases
by a factor of four, how will the standard error change?
A. It will be double.
B. It will be cut in half.
C. It will be cut to 1/4 of 5.
D. It will quadruple.
26) For a sample size of 1, the sampling distribution of the mean will be normally distributed
A. regardless of the shape of the population
B. only if the shape of the population is positively skewed
C. only if the population values are larger than 30
D. only if the population is normally distributed
27) A 95% confidence interval for the population mean indicates that
A. with an infinite number of samples, there’s a 5% chance that the population mean will be
outside the interval
B. more sampling is required to increase the confidence interval to 100%
C. the sampling process is biased
D. 95% of the observations from any sample will fall within the interval
28) A random sample of 16 ATM transactions at the First National Bank of Flintrock revealed a
mean transaction time of 2.8 minutes with a standard deviation of 1.2 minutes. The width, in
minutes, of the 95% confidence interval for the true mean transaction time is
A. ± 0.639
B. ± 0.588
C. ± 0.300
D. ± 2.131

8. 29) All other things being equal, which is narrower, a 95% confidence interval with n=100 or a
99% confidence interval with n=30?
A. The 95% confidence interval
B. The 99% confidence interval
C. The same width
D. Need the margin of error to tell
30) When the only sources of variation in a production process are caused by chance, the process
is said to be
A. out of balance but under control
B. out of control but in balance
C. under control
D. out of control
RES 341 Final Exam