Exam 1: Statistics, Data, and Statistical Thinking

Parking at a university has become a problem. University administrators are interested in determining the average time it takes a student to find a parking spot. An administrator inconspicuously followed 120 students and recorded how long it took each of them to find a parking spot. Identify the population of interest to the university administration.

A researcher studying malnutrition among children in a developing country collected weights of a random sample of children using a scale that she had set to give weights 2.5 kilograms less than the actual weight. Which statement best describes this situation?

The process of using information from a sample to make generalizations about the larger population is called statistical inference.

A fan observes the numbers on the shirts of a girl's soccer team. Identify the type of data collected.

An assembly line is operating satisfactorily if fewer than 4% of the phones produced per day are defective. To check the quality of a day's production, the company randomly samples 50 phonesfrom a day's production to test for defects. Define the population of interest to the manufacturer.

Which of the following is not an element of descriptive statistical problems?

Explain why it is not necessary to provide a measure of reliability when a census is used rather than a sample.

Does online teaching help or hinder student learning? To help answer this question, a statistics teacher decided to teach his three sections of a particular class using three different teaching models - a traditional face-to-face section, a completely online section, and a hybrid or blended section that incorporated both a face-to-face and online component in the section. Students were randomly assigned to the different sections, taught identical information using the different teaching formats, and given identical examinations to measure student learning. The goal was to identify if the teaching method used affected student learning performance. Identify the data collection method used in this study.

Which of the following is not the job of a statistician?

A study in the state of Georgia was conducted to determine the percentage of all community college students who have taken at least one online class. 1500 community college students were Contacted and asked if they had taken at least one online class during their time at their community College. These responses were then used to estimate the percentage of all community college Students who have taken at least one online class. Identify the population of interest in this study.

Which of the following is not typically an element of inferential statistical problems?

A postal worker counts the number of complaint letters received by the United States Postal Service in a given day. Identify the type of data collected.

In an observational study, the researcher exerts strict control over the units in the study.

What method of data collection would you use to collect data for a study where a drug was given to 40 patients and a placebo to another group of 40 patients to determine if the drug has an effect on a patient's illness?

Parking at a large university has become a very big problem. University administrators are interested in determining the average parking time (e.g. the time it takes a student to find a parking spot) of its students. An administrator inconspicuously followed 250 students and carefully recorded their parking times. Identify the variable of interest to the university administration.

A measure of reliability is an important element of a descriptive statistical problem.

A survey of high school teenagers reported that 96% of those sampled are interested in pursuing a college education. Does this statement describe descriptive or inferential statistics?

Parking at a large university has become a very big problem. University administrators are interested in determining the average parking time (e.g. the time it takes a student to find a parking spot) of its students. An administrator inconspicuously followed 250 students and carefully recorded their parking times. Identify the data collection method used by the administration in this study.

Parking at a large university has become a very big problem. University administrators are interested in determining the average parking time (e.g. the time it takes a student to find a parking spot) of its students. An administrator inconspicuously followed 250 students and carefully recorded their parking times. Identify the experimental unit of interest to the university administration.

The amount of television viewed by today's youth is of primary concern to Parents Against Watching Television (PAWT). 330 parents of elementary school-aged children were asked to estimate the number of hours per week that their child watches television. Identify how the data were collected in this study.