Exam 7: An Overview of Statistical Inference - Learning From Data

Suppose a researcher is collecting data about the amount of soda Americans consume in one day. The researcher would like to determine if Americans consume over 12 ounces of soda per day on average. What question type (Q) is this: estimation or hypothesis testing?

The company conducted a study that investigated whether the classical music while waiting for the operator's response has an effect on the irritability of customers. In this study during the week customers were randomly assigned to either a control group (who listened to the usual beeps while waiting for the operator's response) or to an experimental group (who listened to the classical music while waiting for the operator's response). The operators during the conversation evaluated the level of irritability of the client as low, medium, and high. The company used these data to determine if there was evidence to support the claim that the mean level of irritability is higher for customers who listened to the classical music while waiting for the operator's response. For the study, answer the four key questions:

Data from a poll of adults aged 30 to 40 in a small town led to the following estimates: Approximately 54% of adults aged 30 to 40 want to improve housing conditions and 72% of adults aged 30 to 40 consider the presence of a garage for a car as a very important attribute in a new house. What additional information about the survey would you need in order to decide if it is reasonable to generalize these estimates to the population of adults aged 30 to 40 of this small town?

In many areas of the U.S., honey bee populations have been devastated in recent years, and the cause is not yet well-understood. The general opinion amongst the beekeepers in a particular region is that the problem is intensifying, and a researcher sets out to settle this question by surveying the health of a large number of randomly-selected hives. Which of the following best describes this study?

For which of the following experimental questions would you be most interested in the population proportion instead of the population mean?

When selecting an appropriate method for data analysis, the only important consideration is the number of and type of variables involved in the situation.

List the five step process that should be used in an estimation problem.

Suppose a researcher is collecting data to compare the average amount of soda consumed daily by men and women. The researcher will ask participants to state the amount of soda they consumed on the previous day. The researcher would like to determine if differences exist in the amount of soda consumed between the genders. What variable(s) are involved? Also, list the type of each variable.

Suppose a researcher is collecting data about the amount of soda Americans consume in one day. If the researcher was to gather two separate representative samples from the population, differences may exist between these samples. These differences may be attributed to what?

List the five step process that should be used in a hypothesis testing problem.

Consider the following two statistical inference situations: I. A technician at a water-bottling facility wishes to test whether one of the filling machines is delivering less fluid per bottle than it is intended to deliver. II) Another technician at this same facility wished to determine the number of milliliters of water being delivered per bottle for the filling machine in question. Which of these inference situations are hypothesis testing problems?

Suppose a researcher is collecting data to compare the average amount of soda consumed daily by men and women. The researcher will ask participants to state the amount of soda they consumed on the previous day. The researcher would like to determine if differences exist in the amount of soda consumed between the genders. Is this an observational study or an experiment?

The researchers conducted a survey of 350 adults that were selected in a way that would produce a representative sample of adult residents of the city. One question in the survey asked, "Do you plan to go abroad for a vacation this year?" The researchers hoped to learn about the proportion of adult residents of the city that planned to go abroad for a vacation this year. For the study, answer the four key questions: ​

Describe the difference between an estimation problem and a hypothesis testing problem.

When selecting an appropriate method for data analysis, one important consideration is the number of and type of variables involved in the situation.

A technician wishes to examine the breaking pressures, in pounds per square inch, of three brands of adhesives. In this study, the adhesives are used to bond two identical squares of 1/2"-thick pieces of acrylic plastic face-on, and then the assembly is tensionally stressed until the bond fails.For each of the adhesive brands, the test is repeated for 50 trials. How many treatments are involved in this study?

In many areas of the U.S., honey bee populations have been devastated in recent years, and the cause is not yet well-understood.A researcher surveys a large sample of honeybee colonies and rates each hive as "healthy" or "unhealthy". What best describes the type of data collected in this study?

Suppose researchers would like to determine the proportion of Americans who own dogs. This would be a hypothesis testing problem.

For the described study below, select the answers for the following key questions: A study was conducted to test an old adage that cats sleep more when the ambient temperature is higher. In the study, cats were isolated from distractions in areas of fixed temperature and were videotaped. The videotape footage was then reviewed to determine the percent of each 24-hour day spent asleep. Three large groups of randomly-selected cats were randomly assigned to one of three environmental temperatures.