Identify Tests for Ordinal Data

Criterion: Identify tests for ordinal data.

Instructions: Read the following and answer the questions.

Identify the appropriate nonparametric test for each of the following examples and explain why a nonparametric test is appropriate.

1.A researcher measures fear as the time it takes to walk across a presumably scary portion of campus. The times (in seconds) that it took a sample of 12 participants were 8, 12, 15, 13, 12, 10, 6, 10, 9, 15, 50, and 52.

2.Two groups of participants were given 5 minutes to complete a puzzle. The participants were told that the puzzle would be easy. In truth, in one group, the puzzle had a solution (Group Solution), and in the second group, the puzzle had no solution (Group No Solution). The researchers measured stress levels and found that frustration levels were low for all participants in Group Solution and for all but a few participants who showed strikingly high levels of stress in Group No Solution.

3.A researcher measured student scores on an identical assignment to see how well students perform for different types of professors. In Group Adviser, their professor was also their adviser; in Group Major, their professor taught in their major field of study; in Group Nonmajor, their professor did not teach in their major field of study. Student scores were ranked in each class, and the differences in ranks were compared.

4.A researcher has the same participants rank two types of advertisements for the same product. Differences in ranks for each advertisement were compared.

5.A professor measures student motivation before, during, and after a statistics course in a given semester. Student motivation was ranked at each time in the semester, and the differences in ranks were compared.