Research in Physical Education Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The coefficient of correlation ranges from -1.00 to 1.00.

A value of +1 means a perfect positive relationship, -1 a perfect negative (inverse) relationship, and 0 no linear relationship. Every value of the Pearson coefficient lies between these limits.

The ranges 0 to 1 and 1 to 0 leave out negative correlations, and -1 to 0 leaves out positive ones, so each covers only half of the possible values.

Answer: B

The mode is the most frequently occurring score.

The mode is the value that appears most often in a set of scores. In 3, 5, 5, 6, 8 the mode is 5. A distribution can have one mode, two (bimodal) or more.

The average of the scores is the mean, the value in the middle of an ordered set is the median, and the sum of all scores is simply a total, not a measure of central tendency.

Answer: B

Cluster sampling is a type of Probability sampling.

In cluster sampling the population is divided into natural groups (clusters), such as schools or villages, and a random sample of whole clusters is selected; all members of the chosen clusters, or a random sample of them, are studied. Because the clusters are chosen at random, every member has a known chance of selection, which makes it a probability method.

Purposive sampling is a non-probability method in which the researcher chooses cases deliberately, so options A, C and D, which are all forms of non-random selection, are wrong.

Answer: C

The variable that brings about change is the Independent variable.

In an experiment the researcher manipulates the independent variable, such as a training method, and observes its effect on the dependent variable, such as performance. The independent variable is the presumed cause; the dependent variable is the effect that is measured.

Controlled and constant variables are the factors held fixed so that they do not influence the result, so they are not responsible for the change.

Answer: A

It is observation with intervention.

In observation with intervention, which includes participant observation, the observer takes part in the situation being observed, becoming a member of the group or intervening in its activities. This gives inside knowledge but risks changing what is observed.

Field observation means observing in the natural setting, which can be done from outside without taking part. Longitudinal and cross-sectional observation describe the time design, following the same subjects over time or comparing different groups at one time, not the observer's role.

Answer: A

The probability is 1/8.

The three tosses are independent, and each has probability 1/2 of a head:

\[ \begin{aligned} P &= \tfrac{1}{2} \times \tfrac{1}{2} \times \tfrac{1}{2} \\ &= \tfrac{1}{8} \end{aligned} \]

Equivalently, three coins give 2³ = 8 equally likely outcomes (HHH, HHT, HTH, THH, HTT, THT, TTH, TTT), and only one is three heads.

3/8 is the probability of exactly two heads (or exactly one), and 2/8 and 4/8 do not correspond to three heads.

Answer: C

A sociometric test evaluates the structure of a group.

Sociometry, devised by J. L. Moreno, asks each member of a group whom they would choose (or reject) as a companion for some activity. The choices are drawn as a sociogram, which reveals the group's structure: its leaders or 'stars', isolates, cliques and mutual pairs. Coaches use it to study team cohesion.

An institution or organisation is a larger formal body, and an organism is a living being; sociometry works on the interpersonal relations within a group.

Answer: A

The initiators and consumers of action research are the teaching faculty.

Action research, introduced into education by Stephen Corey, is research carried out by practitioners to solve their own immediate problems. Teachers identify a problem in their own classroom or programme, plan and try out a solution, study the result and use the findings themselves. They are therefore both the people who start it and the people who use its results.

The subjects of the study take part but do not initiate it, professional researchers do fundamental rather than action research, and the school administration may support the work but is not its main user.

Answer: B

The key's answer is measurement.

A case study gathers detailed information about one person, group or institution by observation, by interview, and by tools such as a personality inventory, along with records and documents. These are named data-gathering techniques. Measurement is the general process of assigning numbers to attributes, which any technique may use, and it is not itself a case-study technique in the way the other three are.

The three named techniques are all used, so each of them is excluded as the answer. I could not find a source that lists techniques not used in case study, and case studies can include tests and measures, so this rests on the key and on elimination.

Answer: D

Both (I) and (II) are wrong.

Statement (I) recommends using double-barrelled questions. A double-barrelled question asks about two things at once, for example 'Is the coach skilled and friendly?', so a single answer cannot show which part it refers to. Good questionnaire design avoids them.

Statement (II) says questionnaire items should not match the research objective. The opposite is true: every item should be derived from and serve the objectives of the study, or it collects irrelevant data. Since both statements give wrong advice, options A, B and C are incorrect.