Norms and Basic Statistics for Testing

Question 1

_____ are methods used to provide a concise description of a collection of quantitative information.

Answer 1

Descriptive statistics

Question 2

_____ are methods used to make inferences from observations of a small group of people known as a sample to a larger group of individuals known as a population.

Answer 2

Inferential statistics

Question 3

The _____ displays scores on a variable or a measure to reflect how frequently each value was obtained. With a frequency distribution, one defines all the possible scores and determines how many people obtained each of those scores.

Answer 3

frequency distribution

Question 4

_____ are the specific scores or points within a distribution. _____ divide the total frequency for a set of observations into hundredths. Instead of indicating what percentage of scores fall below a particular score, as percentile ranks do, percentiles indicate the particular score, below which a defined percentage of scores falls.

Answer 4

Percentiles

Question 5

The _____ score transforms data into standardized units that are easier to interpret. A _____ score is the difference between a score and the mean, divided by the standard deviation: If a score is equal to the mean, then its _____ score is 0. If the score is greater than the mean, then the _____ score is positive; if the score is less than the mean, then the _____ score is negative.

Answer 5

Z

Question 6

McCall generated a system, McCall’s _____, that is exactly the same as standard scores (Z scores), except that the mean in McCall’s system is 50 rather than 0 and the standard deviation is 10 rather than 1. Indeed, a Z score can be transformed to a _____ score by applying the linear transformation,

Answer 6

T

Question 7

_____ are points that divide the frequency distribution into equal fourths. The first quartile is the 25th percentile; the second quartile is the median, or 50th, percentile; and the third quartile is the 75th percentile.

Answer 7

Quartiles

Question 8

_____ are similar to quartiles except that they use points that mark 10% rather than 25% intervals. Thus, the top decile, or D9, is the point below which 90% of the cases fall. The next _____(D8) marks the 80th percentile, and so forth.

Answer 8

Deciles

Question 9

A _____ test describes the specific types of skills, tasks, or knowledge that the test taker can demonstrate such as mathematical skills. _____ testing movement emphasizes the diagnostic use of tests — that is, using them to identify problems that can be remedied.

Answer 9

criterion-referenced