HLTH 501 BIOSTATISTICS TEST PAPER
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS 100% CORRECT
FOR THE 2026 FINAL.
⫸ nominal variables. Answer: -Categories with no order.
-Example: blood type (A, B, AB, O), eye color.
⫸ ordinal variables. Answer: -Categories with a rank/order, but no
fixed spacing.
-Example: pain scale (mild, moderate, severe)
⫸ dependent variable. Answer: primary outcome of the study
*ex- a1c
⫸ independent variable. Answer: what is manipulated in the study
*ex- diet in diabetics
⫸ dependent vs independent variable. Answer: Dependent variable is
altered by manipulation of the independent variable.
⫸ confounding variable. Answer: A hidden "extra" variable that
affects both the exposure and the outcome, making the relationship
look stronger/weaker than it really is.
, ⫸ control variable. Answer: variable that must be kept constant
during experiment
⫸ descriptive vs inferential statistics. Answer: -descriptive-
Summarize or describe data you already collected.
-inferential- Use sample data to make conclusions about a population.
⫸ frequency distribution. Answer: how often each value/category
appears in the data.
⫸ mean vs median vs mode. Answer: -mean- average of values
-median- middle of data
-mode- most common data point
⫸ which (mean/median/mode) helps measure central tendency.
Answer: median
⫸ low vs high variability. Answer: -Low variability = data close
together (consistent)
-High variability = data spread out (scattered).
⫸ variance. Answer: Measures how spread out all data points are
from the mean.
⫸ range. Answer: highest value-lowest value
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS 100% CORRECT
FOR THE 2026 FINAL.
⫸ nominal variables. Answer: -Categories with no order.
-Example: blood type (A, B, AB, O), eye color.
⫸ ordinal variables. Answer: -Categories with a rank/order, but no
fixed spacing.
-Example: pain scale (mild, moderate, severe)
⫸ dependent variable. Answer: primary outcome of the study
*ex- a1c
⫸ independent variable. Answer: what is manipulated in the study
*ex- diet in diabetics
⫸ dependent vs independent variable. Answer: Dependent variable is
altered by manipulation of the independent variable.
⫸ confounding variable. Answer: A hidden "extra" variable that
affects both the exposure and the outcome, making the relationship
look stronger/weaker than it really is.
, ⫸ control variable. Answer: variable that must be kept constant
during experiment
⫸ descriptive vs inferential statistics. Answer: -descriptive-
Summarize or describe data you already collected.
-inferential- Use sample data to make conclusions about a population.
⫸ frequency distribution. Answer: how often each value/category
appears in the data.
⫸ mean vs median vs mode. Answer: -mean- average of values
-median- middle of data
-mode- most common data point
⫸ which (mean/median/mode) helps measure central tendency.
Answer: median
⫸ low vs high variability. Answer: -Low variability = data close
together (consistent)
-High variability = data spread out (scattered).
⫸ variance. Answer: Measures how spread out all data points are
from the mean.
⫸ range. Answer: highest value-lowest value