AP Statistics Exam Review Questions
Multiple-Choice Questions And Answers.
Which of the following is a key distinction between well designed experiments and
observational studies?
A) More subjects are available for experiments than for observational studies.
B) Ethical constraints prevent large-scale observational studies.
C) Experiments are less costly to conduct than observational studies.
D) An experiment can show a direct cause-and-effect relationship, whereas an observational
study cannot.
E) Tests of significance cannot be used on data collected from an observational study. - Answer
D) An experiment can show a direct cause-and-effect relationship, whereas an observational
study cannot.
Ann Landers - who wrote a daily advice column appearing in newspapers across the country -
once asked her
readers, "If you had it to do over again, would you have children?" Of the more than 10,000
readers who
responded, 70% said no. (I'm certain your parents would say yes!) What does this show?
A) The survey is meaningless because of voluntary response bias.
B) No meaningful conclusion is possible without knowing something more about the
characteristics of her
readers.
C) The survey would have been more meaningful if she had picked a random sample of the
10,000 readers who
responded.
D) The survey would have been meaningful if she had used a control group.
E) This was a legitimate sample drawn from her readers and of sufficient size to allow the
conclusion that most
of her readers who are parents would have second thoughts about having children. - Answer
A) The survey is meaningless because of voluntary response bias.
,in the city who are planning to vote for this candidate in the upcoming election. Two weeks
before the election,
the volunteer plans to double the sample size in the polls. The main purpose of this is to
A) reduce nonresponse bias
B) reduce the effects of confounding variables
C) reduce bias due to the interviewer effect
D) decrease the variability in the population
E) decrease the standard deviation of the sampling distribution of the sample proportion -
Answer E) decrease the standard deviation of the sampling distribution of the sample
proportion
A researcher planning a survey of heads of households in a particular state has census lists for
each of the 23
counties in that state. The procedure will be to obtain a random sample of 10 heads of
households from each of
the 23 counties. Which of the following is a true statement about the resulting sample?
I. This is not a proper study because children were not included.
II. This stratified random sample is a type of simple random sample because subjects were
randomly selected
from each county.
III. This is not a simple random sample because all possible groups of 230 subjects did not have
the same
probability of being selected.
IV. This study may give important information about the similarities and differences of the 23
counties.
A) III and IV
B) I and II
C) I and III
D) I,II, and III
E) None of these - Answer A) III and IV
A study is made to determine whether studying Latin helps students achieve higher scores on
,noted that the average SAT verbal score is higher for those 100 students who have taken Latin
than for those
who have not. Based on this study, guidance counselors begin to recommend Latin for students
who want to do
well on the SAT exam. Which of the following are true statements?
I. While this study indicates relation, it does not prove causation.
II. There could well be a confounding variable responsible for the seeming relationship.
III. Self-selection here makes drawing the counselors' conclusion difficult.
A) I and II
B) I and III
C) II and III
D) I,II, and III
E) None of these - Answer D) I,II, and III
A group of students has 60 houseflies in a large container and needs to assign 20 to each of the
three groups
labeled A, B, and C for an experiment. They can capture the flies one at a time when the flies
enter a side
chamber in the container that is baited with food. Which of the following methods will be most
likely to result in
three comparable groups of 20 houseflies each?
A) Label the first 20 flies caught as Group A, the second 20 caught as group B, and the third 20
caught as group C.
B) Write the letters A, B, and C on separate slips of paper. Randomly pick one of the slips of
paper and assign the
first 20 flies caught to that group. Pick another slip and assign the next 20 flies caught to that
group. Assign
the remaining flies to the remaining group.
C) When each fly is caught, roll a die. If the die shows an even number, the fly is labeled A. If the
die shows an
odd number, the fly is labeled B. When 20 fl - Answer D) Place each fly in its own numbered
container (numbered from 1 to 60) in the order that it was caught. Write
, the flies in the containers with those numbers to group B. Assign the remaining 20 flies to group
C.
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of stratified random sampling?
A) Random sampling is part of the sampling procedure.
B) The population is divided into groups of units that are similar on some characteristic.
C) The strata are based on facts known before the sample is selected.
D) Each individual unit in the population belongs to one and only one of the strata.
E) Every possible subset of the population, of the desired sample size, has an equal chance of
being selected. - Answer E) Every possible subset of the population, of the desired sample size,
has an equal chance of being selected.
Respondents to a randomly distributed questionnaire answered the question, "Do you agree
that nuclear
weapons should never be used because they are immoral?" The study that uses the results of
this questionnaire
will most likely suffer from which type(s) of bias?
A) undercoverage
B) voluntary response
C) response
D) nonresponse
E) all of the above - Answer C) response
A newlywed couple is trying to choose one of two neighborhood supermarkets for their grocery
shopping. They
decide to randomly select 20 items, check their price at each store, then conduct a test to
determine if, on average,
one store is significantly less expensive than the other. What test should they conduct?
A) Two-proportion z-test
B) Two-sample t-test
C) Matched pairs t-test
D) t-test for regression slope
E) χ2
Multiple-Choice Questions And Answers.
Which of the following is a key distinction between well designed experiments and
observational studies?
A) More subjects are available for experiments than for observational studies.
B) Ethical constraints prevent large-scale observational studies.
C) Experiments are less costly to conduct than observational studies.
D) An experiment can show a direct cause-and-effect relationship, whereas an observational
study cannot.
E) Tests of significance cannot be used on data collected from an observational study. - Answer
D) An experiment can show a direct cause-and-effect relationship, whereas an observational
study cannot.
Ann Landers - who wrote a daily advice column appearing in newspapers across the country -
once asked her
readers, "If you had it to do over again, would you have children?" Of the more than 10,000
readers who
responded, 70% said no. (I'm certain your parents would say yes!) What does this show?
A) The survey is meaningless because of voluntary response bias.
B) No meaningful conclusion is possible without knowing something more about the
characteristics of her
readers.
C) The survey would have been more meaningful if she had picked a random sample of the
10,000 readers who
responded.
D) The survey would have been meaningful if she had used a control group.
E) This was a legitimate sample drawn from her readers and of sufficient size to allow the
conclusion that most
of her readers who are parents would have second thoughts about having children. - Answer
A) The survey is meaningless because of voluntary response bias.
,in the city who are planning to vote for this candidate in the upcoming election. Two weeks
before the election,
the volunteer plans to double the sample size in the polls. The main purpose of this is to
A) reduce nonresponse bias
B) reduce the effects of confounding variables
C) reduce bias due to the interviewer effect
D) decrease the variability in the population
E) decrease the standard deviation of the sampling distribution of the sample proportion -
Answer E) decrease the standard deviation of the sampling distribution of the sample
proportion
A researcher planning a survey of heads of households in a particular state has census lists for
each of the 23
counties in that state. The procedure will be to obtain a random sample of 10 heads of
households from each of
the 23 counties. Which of the following is a true statement about the resulting sample?
I. This is not a proper study because children were not included.
II. This stratified random sample is a type of simple random sample because subjects were
randomly selected
from each county.
III. This is not a simple random sample because all possible groups of 230 subjects did not have
the same
probability of being selected.
IV. This study may give important information about the similarities and differences of the 23
counties.
A) III and IV
B) I and II
C) I and III
D) I,II, and III
E) None of these - Answer A) III and IV
A study is made to determine whether studying Latin helps students achieve higher scores on
,noted that the average SAT verbal score is higher for those 100 students who have taken Latin
than for those
who have not. Based on this study, guidance counselors begin to recommend Latin for students
who want to do
well on the SAT exam. Which of the following are true statements?
I. While this study indicates relation, it does not prove causation.
II. There could well be a confounding variable responsible for the seeming relationship.
III. Self-selection here makes drawing the counselors' conclusion difficult.
A) I and II
B) I and III
C) II and III
D) I,II, and III
E) None of these - Answer D) I,II, and III
A group of students has 60 houseflies in a large container and needs to assign 20 to each of the
three groups
labeled A, B, and C for an experiment. They can capture the flies one at a time when the flies
enter a side
chamber in the container that is baited with food. Which of the following methods will be most
likely to result in
three comparable groups of 20 houseflies each?
A) Label the first 20 flies caught as Group A, the second 20 caught as group B, and the third 20
caught as group C.
B) Write the letters A, B, and C on separate slips of paper. Randomly pick one of the slips of
paper and assign the
first 20 flies caught to that group. Pick another slip and assign the next 20 flies caught to that
group. Assign
the remaining flies to the remaining group.
C) When each fly is caught, roll a die. If the die shows an even number, the fly is labeled A. If the
die shows an
odd number, the fly is labeled B. When 20 fl - Answer D) Place each fly in its own numbered
container (numbered from 1 to 60) in the order that it was caught. Write
, the flies in the containers with those numbers to group B. Assign the remaining 20 flies to group
C.
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of stratified random sampling?
A) Random sampling is part of the sampling procedure.
B) The population is divided into groups of units that are similar on some characteristic.
C) The strata are based on facts known before the sample is selected.
D) Each individual unit in the population belongs to one and only one of the strata.
E) Every possible subset of the population, of the desired sample size, has an equal chance of
being selected. - Answer E) Every possible subset of the population, of the desired sample size,
has an equal chance of being selected.
Respondents to a randomly distributed questionnaire answered the question, "Do you agree
that nuclear
weapons should never be used because they are immoral?" The study that uses the results of
this questionnaire
will most likely suffer from which type(s) of bias?
A) undercoverage
B) voluntary response
C) response
D) nonresponse
E) all of the above - Answer C) response
A newlywed couple is trying to choose one of two neighborhood supermarkets for their grocery
shopping. They
decide to randomly select 20 items, check their price at each store, then conduct a test to
determine if, on average,
one store is significantly less expensive than the other. What test should they conduct?
A) Two-proportion z-test
B) Two-sample t-test
C) Matched pairs t-test
D) t-test for regression slope
E) χ2
