3.1.4.9.1 Quantitative and qualitative data Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 4

The 20 questions

1. Quantitative data is best described as data that is

   • numerical and can be measured or counted
   • descriptive and recorded in words
   • collected only through interviews
   • always gathered in a laboratory setting

2. Which is an example of qualitative data?

   • A participant's written description of how they felt during the task
   • The number of words recalled from a list of twenty items in a memory test
   • The time in seconds taken to complete a puzzle set by the researcher
   • The number of people who chose option B in a poll about their preferences

3. What is an advantage of quantitative data?

   • It always gives a complete account of a person's feelings
   • It cannot be affected by the researcher's interpretation
   • It is easy to compare and analyse statistically
   • It is always collected from a larger sample

4. What is a disadvantage of qualitative data?

   • It rarely provides any useful detail about behaviour in everyday situations
   • It can only be collected using closed questions that give fixed answers
   • It always requires a laboratory setting to be collected accurately
   • It can be harder to analyse and compare consistently across participants

5. Which data would most likely be quantitative?

   • An interview transcript about childhood memories
   • Diary entries describing daily mood
   • The number of errors made in a typing task
   • Participant comments about how difficult the task felt

6. Which is a strength of qualitative data?

   • It provides rich detail that can explain why people think or behave as they do
   • It removes all bias from the results of a study
   • It is easier to summarise in a single bar chart than quantitative data
   • It can always be converted into exact percentages without loss

7. A researcher counts how many times children smile in a playground. What kind of data is this?

   • Quantitative data, because it is a count of an observed behaviour
   • Qualitative data, because it describes children's emotions in words
   • Neither type, because observation cannot produce data
   • Qualitative data, because it was collected in a playground

8. A study asks participants to rate their happiness from 1 to 10. Which statement is correct?

   • The ratings are quantitative data
   • The ratings are qualitative because they were given by participants
   • The ratings are neither type because they are subjective
   • The ratings are qualitative data because happiness is an emotion

9. An open-ended question asks: 'Describe how you felt during the test.' What type of data will the answer produce?

   • Primary numerical data
   • Secondary standardised data
   • Quantitative data
   • Qualitative data

10. Which of these describes a study using both types of data?

    • A questionnaire with rating scales and open comments
    • A case study that only reports diary entries
    • A laboratory experiment that only records reaction times
    • A survey with only yes or no answers and no comments

11. A researcher says 'the group's mood was mostly positive'. Is this quantitative or qualitative?

    • Quantitative, because the mood was measured
    • Quantitative, because the word mostly is a percentage
    • Neither, because mood cannot be measured
    • Qualitative, because it is a descriptive summary in words

12. Why might a researcher collect both quantitative and qualitative data in one study?

    • To combine statistical patterns with detailed explanations of the reasons behind them
    • To ensure the sample is randomly selected automatically from a larger list
    • To make the study easier to publish because it has more pages and graphs
    • To avoid the need for any ethical approval from the university committee

13. Which statement best evaluates a study that only collected quantitative data about stress?

    • It may miss the reasons behind participants' stress
    • It is unreliable because quantitative data is always collected by computers
    • It is fully valid because numbers are always objective
    • It is invalid because quantitative data cannot measure stress

14. Which type of data is typically summarised using a mean?

    • Ethical data
    • Quantitative data
    • Descriptive observational notes
    • Qualitative data

15. A researcher codes interview answers into categories and counts them. What does the result represent?

    • Qualitative data that has been converted into quantitative counts
    • Secondary data that must be qualitative because it comes from earlier studies
    • Primary data that is always qualitative because it is collected by the researcher
    • Quantitative data that cannot be counted at all because it is descriptive

16. A diary study records how many hours a child slept each night. Which statement is accurate?

    • The data is neither, because sleep cannot be measured
    • The data is quantitative
    • The data is qualitative, because it describes a child's routine
    • The data is qualitative, because a diary is written by hand

17. Which is a typical feature of qualitative research?

    • Data are described in words, often from interviews or open-ended responses
    • Data are always collected using a fixed scale of numbers from closed questions
    • Data are always collected from very large random samples of the population
    • Data are always analysed using a t-test to compare the means of two groups

18. Why might qualitative data be less reliable than quantitative data in some studies?

    • Participants never provide honest comments in writing
    • Interpreting words can vary between researchers, making consistency harder to achieve
    • Words are always less accurate than numbers because they cannot be recorded
    • Qualitative data always contains false information

19. A researcher asks: 'How many books did you read last month?' What type of data is the response?

    • Neither, because reading cannot be measured
    • Quantitative data, because it is a numerical count
    • Qualitative data, because it describes reading habits
    • Qualitative data, because it is a personal response

20. Which statement best describes the trade-off between the two types of data?

    • Quantitative data is always more ethical, while qualitative data never is
    • Quantitative data gives depth, while qualitative data is more comparable across studies
    • Both types reveal identical information, so the choice does not matter
    • Quantitative data gives breadth and comparability

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