Exam 1: Overview of Statistics

Established risk factors such as cholesterol and obesity can predict who will get heart disease about 80 percent of the time.Adding a new test called CRP can raise this percentage to 81 percent-a statistically significant difference.But would this improvement be of practical importance to a physician? To a patient? Discuss.

Which of the following statements is not true?

A business data analyst needs a PhD in statistics.

Which is not a likely area of application of statistics in business?

Valid statistical inferences cannot be made when sample sizes are small.

Which best illustrates the distinction between statistical significance and practical importance?

When a statistician omits data contrary to her findings in a study,she is justified as long as the sample supports her objective.

Because 25 percent of the students in my morning statistics class watch eight or more hours of television a week,I conclude that 25 percent of all students at the university watch eight or more hours of television a week.The most important logical weakness of this conclusion would be:

Pitfalls to consider in a statistical test include nonrandom samples,small sample size,and lack of causal links.

Which is least likely to be an application where statistics will be useful?

Statistics can help you handle either too little or too much information.

Descriptive statistics refers to summarizing data rather than generalizing about the population.

How might statistics be useful in determining the correct width of doorways in a convalescent care facility so that 99 percent of the "typical" wheelchairs can pass through the doorway without coming closer than 6 inches on either side?

Which of the following statements is not true?

Statistics helps surmount language barriers to solve problems in multinational businesses.

Which is not a practical constraint facing the business researcher or data analyst?

Estimating parameters and testing hypotheses are important aspects of descriptive statistics.

Excel has limited use in business because advanced statistical software is widely available.

Which is not an essential characteristic of a good business data analyst?

"Tom's SUV rolled over.SUVs are dangerous." This best illustrates which fallacy?