Deck 2: Data Collection

Question 1

In last year's annual report, Thompson Distributors indicated that it had 12 regional warehouses. This is an example of ordinal level data.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Numerical data can be either discrete or continuous.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Nominal data refer to data that can be ordered in a natural way.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Temperature measured in degrees Fahrenheit is an example of interval data.

Question 5

This year, Oxnard University produced two football All-Americans. This is an example of continuous data.

Question 6

Ordinal data can be treated as if it were nominal data but not vice versa.

Question 7

The number of planes per day that land at an airport is an example of discrete data.

Question 8

Your weight recorded at your annual physical would not be ratio data, because you cannot have zero weight.

Question 9

Ordinal data are data that can be ranked based on some natural characteristic of the items.

Question 10

The weight of a bag of dog food is an example of discrete data.

Question 11

Responses on a seven-point Likert scale are usually treated as ratio data.

Question 12

The number of checks processed at a bank in a day is an example of categorical data.

Question 13

The level of measurement for categorical data is nominal.

Question 14

Categorical data are also referred to as nominal or qualitative data.

Question 15

Likert scales are especially important in opinion polls and marketing surveys.

Question 16

The Statistical Abstract of the United States is a huge annual compendium of data for the United States, and it is available online free of charge.

Question 17

Ratio data are distinguished from interval data by the presence of a zero reference point.

Question 18

The type of statistical test that we can perform is independent of the level of measurement of the variable of interest.

Question 19

Categorical data have values that are described by words rather than numbers.

Question 20

The closing price of a stock is an example of ratio data.

Question 21

When the population is large, a sample estimate is usually preferable to a census.

Question 22

A worker collecting data from every other shopper who leaves a store is taking a simple random sample of customer opinion.

Question 23

If you randomly sample 50 students about their favorite places to eat, the data collected would be referred to as cross-sectional data.

Question 24

A problem with convenience sampling is that the target population is not well defined.

Question 25

Analysis of month-by-month changes in stock market prices during the most recent recession would require the use of time series data.

Question 26

Internet surveys posted on popular websites such as MSN.com suffer from nonresponse bias.

Question 27

A sampling frame is used to identify the target population in a statistical study.

Question 28

Judgment sampling and convenience sampling are nonrandom sampling techniques.

Question 29

An advantage of a systematic sample is that no list of enumerated data items is required.

Question 30

Telephone surveys often have a low response rate and fail to reach the desired population.

Question 31

It is better to attempt a census of a large population instead of relying on a sample.

Question 32

Different variables are usually shown as columns of a multivariate data set.

Question 33

A problem with judgment sampling is that the sample may not reflect the population.

Question 34

A cluster sample is a type of stratified sample that is based on geographical location.

Question 35

Internet surveys posted on popular websites have no bias since anyone can reply.

Question 36

Mail surveys are attractive because of their high response rates.

Question 37

Creating a list of people by taking the third name listed on every 10^th page of the phone book is an example of convenience sampling.

Question 38

The number of FedEx shipping centers in each of 50 cities would be ordinal level data.

Question 39

Sampling error is avoidable by choosing the sample scientifically.

Question 40

By taking a systematic sample, in which we select every 50^th shopper arriving at a specific store, we are approximating a random sample of shoppers.

Question 41

A list of the salaries, ages, and years of experience for 50 CEOs is a multivariate data set.

Question 42

Each row in a multivariate data matrix is an observation (e.g., an individual response).

Question 43

A Likert scale with an even number of scale points between "Strongly Agree" and "Strongly Disagree" is intended to prevent "neutral" choices.

Question 44

An investment firm rates bonds for AardCo Inc. as "B+," while bonds of Deva Corp. are rated "AA." Which level of measurement would be appropriate for such data?

A)Nominal
B)Ordinal
C)Interval
D)Ratio

Question 45

Your telephone area code is an example of a(n) ____________ variable.

A)nominal
B)ordinal
C)interval
D)ratio

Question 46

Private statistical databases (e.g., CRSP) are usually free.

Question 47

Your rating of the food served at a local restaurant using a three-point scale of 0 = gross, 1 = decent, 2 = yummy is ___________ data.

A)nominal
B)ordinal
C)interval
D)ratio

Question 48

Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit is an example of a(n) __________ variable.

A)nominal
B)ordinal
C)interval
D)ratio

Question 49

Using a sample to make generalizations about an aspect of a population is called:

A)data mining.
B)descriptive statistics.
C)random sampling.
D)statistical inference.

Question 50

Which is least likely to be regarded as a ratio variable?

A)A critic's rating of a restaurant on a 1 to 4 scale
B)Automobile exhaust emission of nitrogen dioxide (milligrams per mile)
C)Number of customer complaints per day at a cable TV company office
D)Cost of an eBay purchase

Question 51

The number of words on 50 randomly chosen textbook pages would be cross-sectional data.

Question 52

Quantitative variables use which two levels of measurement?

A)Ordinal and ratio
B)Interval and ordinal
C)Nominal and ordinal
D)Interval and ratio

Question 53

The daily closing price of Apple stock over the past month would be a time series.

Question 54

Running times for 3,000 runners in a 5k race would be a multivariate data set.

Question 55

Which of the following is numerical data?

A)Your gender
B)The brand of cell phone you own
C)Whether you have an American Express card
D)The fuel economy (MPG) of your car

Question 56

Automobile exhaust emission of CO₂ (milligrams per mile) is ____________ data.

A)nominal
B)ordinal
C)interval
D)ratio

Question 57

Running times for 500 runners in a 5k race would be a univariate data set.

Question 58

A bivariate data set has only two observations on a variable.

Question 59

Which variable is least likely to be regarded as ratio data?

A)Length of time required for a randomly chosen vehicle to cross a toll bridge (minutes)
B)Weight of a randomly chosen student (pounds)
C)Number of fatalities in a randomly chosen traffic disaster (persons)
D)Student's evaluation of a professor's teaching (Likert scale)

Question 60

Measurements from a sample are called:

A)statistics.
B)inferences.
C)parameters.
D)variables.

Question 61

Which of the following is true?

A)The type of charge card used by a customer (Visa, MasterCard, AmEx) is ordinal data.
B)The duration (minutes) of a flight from Boston to Minneapolis is ratio data.
C)The number of Nobel Prize-winning faculty at Oxnard University is continuous data.
D)The number of regional warehouses owned by Jankord Industries is ordinal data.

Question 62

An accounting professor wishing to know how many MBA students would take a summer elective in international accounting did a survey of the class she was teaching. Which kind of sample is this?

A)Simple random sample
B)Cluster sample
C)Systematic sample
D)Convenience sample

Question 63

Which statement is correct?

A)Judgment sampling is preferred to systematic sampling.
B)Sampling without replacement introduces bias in our estimates of parameters.
C)Cluster sampling is useful when strata characteristics are unknown.
D)Focus groups usually work best without a moderator.

Question 64

Comparing a census of a large population to a sample drawn from it, we expect that the:

A)sample is usually a more practical method of obtaining the desired information.
B)accuracy of the observations in the census is surely higher than in the sample.
C)sample must be a large fraction of the population to be accurate.

Question 65

Which of the following is not a likely reason for sampling?

A)The destructive nature of certain tests
B)The physical impossibility of checking all the items in the population
C)Prohibitive cost of studying the entire population
D)The expense of obtaining random numbers

Question 66

Which statement is false?

A)Random dialing phone surveys have low response and are poorly targeted.
B)Selection bias means that many respondents dislike the interviewer.
C)Simple random sampling requires a list of the population.
D)Web surveys are economical but suffer from nonresponse bias.

Question 67

A Likert scale:

A)yields interval data if scale distances are equal.
B)must have an odd number of scale points.
C)must have a verbal label on each scale point.
D)is rarely used in marketing surveys.

Question 68

An advantage of convenience samples over random samples is that:

A)they are easy to analyze.
B)it is easier to determine the sample size needed.
C)it is easier to calculate the sampling errors involved.
D)data collection cost is reduced.

Question 69

Which of the following is not true?

A)Categorical data have values that are described by words rather than numbers.
B)Categorical data are also referred to as nominal or qualitative data.
C)The number of checks processed at a bank in a day is categorical data.
D)Numerical data can be either discrete or continuous.

Question 70

Professor Hardtack chose a sample of 7 students from his statistics class of 35 students by picking every student who was wearing red that day. Which kind of sample is this?

A)Simple random sample
B)Judgment sample
C)Systematic sample
D)Convenience sample

Question 71

Thirty work orders are selected from a filing cabinet containing 500 work order folders by choosing every 15^th folder. Which sampling method is this?

A)Simple random sample
B)Systematic sample
C)Stratified sample
D)Cluster sample

Question 72

A stratified sample is sometimes recommended when:

A)the sample size is very large.
B)the population is small compared to the sample.
C)distinguishable strata can be identified in the populations.
D)the population is spread out geographically.

Question 73

To measure satisfaction with its cell phone service, AT&T takes a stratified sample of its customers by age, gender, and location. Which is an advantage of this type of sampling, as opposed to other sampling methods?

A)It is less intrusive on customers' privacy.
B)It does not require random numbers.
C)It gives faster results.
D)It can give more accurate results.

Question 74

Which should not be regarded as a continuous random variable?

A)Tonnage carried by a randomly chosen oil tanker at sea
B)Wind velocity at 7 o'clock this morning
C)Number of personal fouls by the Miami Heat in a game
D)Length of time to play a Wimbledon tennis match

Question 75

A random sample is one in which the:

A)probability that an item is selected for the sample is the same for all population items.
B)population items are selected haphazardly by experienced workers.
C)items to be selected from the population are specified based on expert judgment.
D)probability of selecting a population item depends on the item's data value.

Question 76

Which is most nearly correct regarding sampling error?

A)It can be eliminated by increasing the sample size.
B)It cannot be eliminated by any statistical sampling method.
C)It can be eliminated by using Excel's =RANDBETWEEN() function.
D)It can be eliminated by utilizing systematic random sampling.

Question 77

An advantage of convenience samples is that:

A)the required sample size is easier to calculate.
B)sampling error can be reduced.
C)computation of statistics is easier.
D)they are often quicker and cheaper.

Question 78

Judgment sampling is sometimes preferred over random sampling, for example, when:

A)the desired sample size is much larger than the population.
B)the sampling budget is large and the population is conveniently located.
C)time is short and the sampling budget is limited.
D)the population is readily accessible and sampling is nondestructive.

Question 79

The number of passengers "bumped" on a particular airline flight is ____________ data.

A)nominal
B)ordinal
C)interval
D)ratio

Question 80

Before deciding whether to assess heavy fines against noisy airlines, which sampling method would the Federal Aviation Administration probably use to measure the peak noise from departing jets as measured by a ground-level observer at a point one mile from the end of the departure runway?

A)Radio survey of pilots.
B)Simple random sample.
C)Judgment sample.
D)Stratified sample.