Research in Physical Education Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The true example of primary data is a Census Report.

Primary data are collected first-hand by an investigator for a purpose. Census data are collected directly from every household by the census organisation, so the census report presents original, first-hand data.

Journals, books and newspapers usually report, summarise or interpret information gathered by others, so they are standard examples of secondary sources.

Answer: A

The shape of the normal curve depends on the Standard Deviation.

A normal distribution is fully defined by its mean and standard deviation. The mean fixes where the centre of the curve lies, and the standard deviation fixes its spread: a small SD gives a tall, narrow curve and a large SD a low, wide one.

Mean deviation and quartile deviation are other measures of dispersion, but the normal curve's equation is written in terms of the SD, and 'QI' is not a parameter of the curve.

Answer: A

The correct matching is a-ii, b-iv, c-iii, d-i.

• Fundamental (basic) research develops explanation through theory building.
• Applied research explores the use of a theory in various situations.
• Action research improves an existing situation through interventions, often by teachers in their own classrooms.
• Evaluative research finds out the extent of impact of an intervention.

The other codes give fundamental research the evaluative or applied description.

Answer: B

A Type-I error occurs when the null hypothesis gets rejected even if it is true.

The probability of a Type-I error is the level of significance (alpha), commonly 0.05: the risk of concluding there is an effect when there is none.

Accepting a false null hypothesis is a Type-II error (beta). The null and alternative hypotheses are complementary, so one is accepted whenever the other is rejected; both cannot be rejected or accepted together.

Answer: C

A closed-form questionnaire calls for a check response.

In a closed (structured) questionnaire the possible answers are supplied, and the respondent ticks or checks one, such as yes/no, a multiple-choice item or a rating. This makes responses easy to tabulate and analyse.

Descriptive and free responses, written in the respondent's own words, belong to open-form questionnaires, and a short written response is still open-ended.

Answer: A

A hypothesis means (i) (ii) (iii).

A research hypothesis is an intelligent or educated guess, a tentative and possible explanation of a phenomenon, stated so that it can be tested by collecting data.

A 'negative guess' is not a definition of a hypothesis; even a null hypothesis is a testable statement of no difference, not a negative guess. Every option including (iv) is therefore wrong.

Answer: C

The mainly qualitative method is the Case study.

A case study is an in-depth investigation of a single person, team, institution or event in its real context, relying mainly on interviews, observation and documents, and producing rich, descriptive data.

Surveys and experiments are mainly quantitative, producing numerical data for statistical analysis, and observational studies are often structured and quantified as well.

Answer: A

The study of association between two variables comes under co-relational design.

A correlational design measures two or more variables as they occur and calculates how strongly they are related, for example between flexibility and hurdling performance, using a correlation coefficient. It shows association but not cause and effect.

A factorial design is an experimental design that tests the effects of two or more manipulated factors, and an experimental design establishes cause and effect, so 'Both' and the experimental option are wrong.

Answer: D

Height is Ratio data.

Ratio data have equal intervals and a true zero, so ratios are meaningful: a person 180 cm tall is twice as tall as a child of 90 cm. Height, weight and time all have a true zero.

Interval data have equal intervals but no true zero (temperature in Celsius), ordinal data show only rank order (positions in a race), and nominal data only name categories (jersey numbers).

Answer: B

The yoga and meditation class is the Independent variable.

The independent variable is the one the researcher manipulates or introduces to see its effect. Here the yoga and meditation class is the treatment, and sleep quality is the dependent variable that is measured to see whether it changes.

Extraneous variables are other factors that could affect sleep and need to be controlled, such as caffeine, and intervening variables are internal processes, such as relaxation, that link cause and effect.