Short Answer

Suppose you conduct a replication of Mehl's study and find that women in your sample speak a mean of 17,00017,000 words per day and men speak a mean of 16,80016,800 words per day. Applying the reasoning used by Mehl and his colleagues, what statistical process must you use before claiming this sample difference represents a genuine sex difference in the broader population?

Question: Suppose you conduct a replication of Mehl's study and find that women in your sample speak a mean of 17,00017,000 words per day and men speak a mean of 16,80016,800 words per day. Applying the reasoning used by Mehl and his colleagues, what statistical process must you use before claiming this sample difference represents a genuine sex difference in the broader population?

Sample answer: I must use inferential statistics to determine if the observed sample difference is statistically significant and large enough to be generalized to the broader population, rather than just being a result of random variation in my specific sample.

Key points:

  • A sample difference alone is insufficient to make a population-level claim.
  • Inferential statistics must be applied to the data.
  • The statistical process determines if the finding can be generalized to the broader population.

Rubric: Full credit is awarded if the student correctly identifies that inferential statistics (or a test of statistical significance) must be used to determine if the sample difference can be generalized to the population.

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Updated 2026-05-27

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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU

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