Example of a Positively Skewed Distribution

Which of the following best describes the shape of a positively skewed distribution?

In a positively skewed distribution of reaction times (where most participants are relatively fast, but a few are very slow), arrange these measures of central tendency from the lowest numerical value to the highest numerical value.

A psychologist measuring the number of errors made on a maze task finds that most participants make very few errors, while only a few participants make a high number of errors. This data set represents a positively skewed distribution.

A clinical psychologist measures 'symptoms of anxiety' in a non-clinical population and finds that while most students report very few symptoms, a few report a very high number. Analyze this positively skewed distribution by matching each term to its specific role or visual impact within this data set.

In a positively skewed distribution, the long 'tail' of the scores trails off toward the lower values of the range.

If a researcher finds that a dataset forms a 'positively skewed' distribution, what does this reveal about the concentration of scores?

A psychologist is evaluating the results of a psychometric test where the majority of participants scored very low, but a small group of high-achievers created a tail extending toward the right. When judging the validity of the arithmetic mean as a measure of the 'typical' score, the researcher identifies that the data follows a/an _____ skewed distribution, which explains why the mean is being disproportionately inflated by extreme outliers.

A psychology researcher measures the number of weekly hours spent studying by undergraduate students. Most students study very few hours, but a few study a very high number of hours. Match each characteristic of this study's positively skewed distribution to its corresponding physical description.

A developmental psychologist measures the number of times children exhibit aggressive behavior during a 10-minute free-play period. After plotting the data, the psychologist notices that most children show very little aggression (shifting the peak of scores toward the lower end of the range), but a few highly aggressive children produce a long tail trailing off toward the higher values. By analyzing these features, the psychologist can conclude that the dataset forms a _____ skewed distribution.

A researcher is evaluating a graph of response times to verify if it represents a positively skewed distribution. Arrange the following spatial features of the distribution in order from the lowest values on the scale (left) to the highest values on the scale (right).

In the context of describing single variables in psychology research, describe the defining features of a positively skewed distribution. Be sure to detail the overall shape, the location of the peak of the scores, and the characteristic of the tail.

Based on the researcher's observations, classify the specific shape of this data distribution and explain how the placement of the peak and the tail in her data justify your classification.

A cognitive psychologist plots the number of errors made by participants on a very simple memory task. If the resulting graph shows an asymmetrical shape with a relatively long positive tail, where on the range of values is the peak of the scores shifted?