Research in Physical Education Questions and Answers

Answer: A

A spurious relationship is a relationship that appears to be true because each variable is related to a third variable.

Two variables may be correlated without any causal link between them because both depend on a third, confounding variable. A classic example: ice cream sales and drowning deaths rise together, but both are driven by hot weather. Once the third variable is controlled, the apparent relationship disappears.

A spurious relationship is not necessarily illogical; it can look entirely plausible, which is why it misleads. And it says nothing about a perfect positive or negative correlation, which describe strength and direction, not the source of the association.

Answer: A

The distribution is most likely negatively skewed.

In a unimodal distribution the relative positions of the three averages show the skew. Here mean (23) \(\lt\) median (24) \(\lt\) mode (25.5).

The mean is pulled towards the long tail by extreme values. A mean lower than the median and the mode means the tail extends to the left, towards low values, which is negative skewness.

In a positively skewed distribution the order is reversed (mean \(\gt\) median \(\gt\) mode), and in a symmetrical one all three are equal. 'Asymptomatic' is not a shape of distribution at all.

Answer: B

The independent variable is level and the dependent variable is stress management skills.

The study asks whether athletes at different levels, international and national, differ in their stress management skills. Level of competition is the grouping (independent) variable, the factor whose effect is examined. Stress management skill is what is measured and compared across the groups, so it is the dependent variable.

Options A and C reverse the roles. In a cross-sectional study the independent variable is not manipulated, but the distinction between the grouping variable and the outcome measured still holds, so option D is wrong.

Answer: C

The stem is a double-barreled question.

A double-barreled question asks about two things at once but allows only one answer. Here the respondent is asked whether 'physical fitness activities and Yoga' should be included. Someone who favours fitness activities but not Yoga, or the reverse, cannot answer accurately, so the response cannot be interpreted.

A leading question pushes the respondent towards a particular answer, and a loaded question contains an unjustified assumption or emotionally charged wording. The stem does neither, but it does have a problem, so 'no problem' is wrong.

Answer: C

The problem is Both (A) and (B).

The categories are not mutually exclusive: a person aged 10, 20 or 30 fits into two categories at once ('10 or less' and '10 to 20', and so on).

They are also not exhaustive: anyone over 40 has no category to choose. Good response categories must cover every possible answer exactly once, so both faults apply, and 'no problem' is wrong.

Answer: D

It indicates confidence in Generalizing their findings from sample to population.

A significance test asks how likely it is that a result found in a sample, such as a difference between groups, arose by chance. A significant result (for example p less than 0.05) lets the researcher infer, with a stated level of confidence, that the effect exists in the population from which the sample was drawn.

It says nothing about whether data were collected properly, about inter-tester reliability, which is checked separately, or about the researcher's understanding of the analysis.

Answer: C

The one that is not a purpose of the literature review is Collecting data.

A literature review surveys what is already known. It helps identify and refine the research problem, develop hypotheses from earlier findings and theories, and choose suitable methods, tools and designs.

Data collection is a later, separate stage of the research, carried out with the study's own subjects and instruments. The review uses published work, not new data.

Answer: D

Informed consent covers all four, so the answer is (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv).

Ethical guidelines require that participants be told the purpose of the study (i); the procedures and any risks or discomforts (ii); the possible benefits and any alternative procedures (iii); and how confidential their information will be and its limits (iv). They must also be told that taking part is voluntary and that they may withdraw.

Each of the other options leaves out a required element.

Answer: C

The procedures to manipulate variables are in the Transform Menu.

SPSS's Transform menu holds the commands that create and change variables: Compute Variable, Recode into Same or Different Variables, Count, Rank Cases and so on.

The Data menu works on cases and files (sort, select, split, merge, weight). The Analyze menu runs statistical procedures, and the Graphs menu produces charts. None of these is for manipulating variables.

Answer: A

It is a Leading question.

A leading question is worded so as to push the respondent towards a particular answer. 'Don't you agree that...' signals the answer the researcher expects and makes disagreement awkward, so responses are biased towards 'yes'.

A loaded question carries a hidden assumption or emotionally charged words. A double-barrelled question asks about two things at once, and a double negative contains two negatives that confuse the respondent; this question does neither.