Exam 1: Statistics, Data, and Statistical Thinking

As part of an economics class project, students were asked to randomly select 500 New Your Stock Exchange (NYSE) stocks from the Wall Street Journal. As part of the project, students were asked to summarize the current prices (also referred to as the closing price of the stock for a particular trading date) of the collected stocks using graphical and numerical techniques. Identify the variable of interest for this study.

As part of an economics class project, students were asked to randomly select 500 New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stocks from the Wall Street Journal. As part of the project, students were asked to summarize the current prices (also referred to as the closing price of the stock for a particular trading date) of the collected stocks using graphical and numerical techniques. Identify the sample of interest for this study.

A watchdog group is investigating how people are treated during the foreclosure process. Surveys were mailed to a random sample of 300 people who had recently been threatened with foreclosure. 75 of the surveys were returned by the postal service because the intended recipients had moved and left no forwarding address. What type of problem has occurred?

What method of data collection would you use to collect data for a study where a political pollster wishes to determine if his candidate is leading in the polls?

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.

From past figures, it is predicted that 21% of the registered voters will vote in the March primary. Does this statement describe descriptive or inferential statistics?

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 220 students and recorded how long it took each of them to find a parking spot. Identify the population, sample, and variable of interest to the administrators.

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 sample of interest to the university administration.

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.

As part of an economics class project, students were asked to randomly select 500 New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stocks from the Wall Street Journal. As part of the project, students were asked to summarize the current prices (also referred to as the closing price of the stock for a particular trading date) of the collected stocks using graphical and numerical techniques. Identify the experimental unit of interest for this study.

A recent report stated "Based on a sample of 180 truck drivers, there is evidence to indicate that, on average, independent truck drivers earn more than company-hired truck drivers." Does this statement describe descriptive or inferential statistics?

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.

A survey of high school teenagers reported that 92% of those sampled are interested in pursuing a college education. Does this statement describe descriptive or inferential statistics?

A census is feasible when the population of interest is small.

A county planning commission is attempted to survey 1500 households from the counties 400,000 households. A random sample was selected and surveys were mailed to the randomly selected households, but only 1075 were returned. The inability to collect data from the 425 households that didn't return the survey would be considered which type of sampling problem?

As part of an economics class project, students were asked to randomly select 500 New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stocks from the Wall Street Journal. As part of the project, students were asked to summarize the current prices (also referred to as the closing price of the stock for a particular trading date) of the collected stocks using graphical and numerical techniques. Identify the data collection method used in this study.

A health food company has the following statement on their new product packaging: "Prevents all types of cancer!" (Fact: Past studies have shown that some ingredients in the new product have been know to possibly reduce the risk of many types of cancer). Discuss why it is unethical to make this statement.

A personnel director studied the eating habits of a company's employees. The director noted whether employees brought their own lunch to work, ate at the company cafeteria, or went out to eat lunch. This type of data collection would best be considered as a(n) __________.

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 variable of interest in this study.

What is meant by selection bias?