MAA 161 STATISTICS FOR SCIENCES STUDENTS TUTORIAL 1

1.

Inferential statistics is based on probability. True False

2.

A ______________ consists of all subjects that are being studied.

3.

Explain whether each of the following constitutes a population or a sample. (a) Credit card debts of 100 families selected from a city. (b) Number of personal fouls committed by all NBA players during the 2010-2011 season. (c) Number of parole violations by all 2147 parolees in a city. (d) Weekly salaries of all employees of a company. (e) Number of computers sold during the past week at all computer stores in Penang.

4.

Explain the difference between qualitative, quantitative, discrete, and continuous variables.

5.

Indicate which of the following variables are quantitative and which are qualitative. (a) Number of persons in a family (b) Colour of cars (c) Marital Status of people (d) Length of a frogs jump (e) Number of errors in persons credit report.

6.

What level of measurement would be applied when doing a survey on the average American's shoe size?

7.

______________ sampling is used when the population is large and it includes subjects residing over a large geographic area.

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8.

Classify the following as cross-section or time-series data. (a) Fast food bills of a family for each month of 2011. (b) Number of armed robberies each year in Dallas from 1993-2011. (c) Number of homicides in 40 cities during 2011.

9.

When running an experimental study, the group that is manipulated can be called the treatment group. A) True B) False

10.

A statistics professor wanted to find out the average GPA (grade point average) for all students at her university. She used all students enrolled in her statistics class as a sample and collected information on their GPAs to find the average GPA. (a) Is this sample a random or a non-random sample? Explain. (b) What kind of sample is it? In other words, is it a simple random sample, a systematic sample, a stratified sample, a cluster sample, a convenience sample, a judgement sample, or a quota sample? Explain. What kind of systematic error, if any, will be made with this kind of sample? Explain.

11.

Refer to Question 10. Suppose the professor obtains a list of all students enrolled at the university form the registrars office and then selects 150 students at random from this list using a statistical software package. (a) Is this sample a random or a non-random sample? Explain. (b) What kind of sample is it? In other words, is it a simple random sample, a systematic sample, a stratified sample, a cluster sample, a convenience sample, a judgement sample, or a quota sample? Explain. (c) Do you think any systematic error will be made in this case? Explain.

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