Deck 1: What Is Statistics

Question 1

A local cable TV system using a sample of 500 subscribers finds that 40% of these subscribers watch a premium channel at least once per day. This is an example of statistical inference as opposed to
descriptive statistics.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Descriptive statistics deals with methods of:

Answer 2

D

Question 3

A summary measure that is computed from a population is called:

Answer 3

A

Question 4

You ask five of your classmates about their height. On the basis of this information, you state that the average height of the students in the sample is 170 cm. Which of the following is this an example of?

Question 5

Consider the population of all pencil manufacturers in the world. Describe any four examples of possible samples that could be taken from this population.

Question 6

Identify each of the following studies as using either descriptive statistics or inferential statistics.
A. Calculating the relative frequency of Holden Commodore SV6 cars passing by your house
between 7pm and 8pm this evening.
B. Estimating the proportion of households in Melbourne that have at least two dependents, from a random sample of 100 Melbournian households.
C. Measuring the fuel efficiency of five brand new Holden Commodore SV6 cars in order to find out whether the average fuel consumption of this make and model is better than 10L/100km.
D. Calculating the proportion of female students in a business statistics class.
E. Estimating the average age of students at La Trobe University from a sample of 200 randomly
selected students.

Question 7

A businessman who is running for a vacant city council seat with 20 000 registered voters conducts a survey. In the survey, 200 of the 300 registered voters interviewed say they plan to vote for him.
A. What proportion of the respondents plans to vote for this businessman?
B. What is the population of interest?
C. What is the sample?
D. Is your answer in part (a) above a parameter or a statistic?

Question 8

The significance level is the relative frequency of a wrong conclusion.

Question 9

Which of the following best describes the data that is collected in a statistical study for only a portion or subset of all elements of interest?

Question 10

A politician who is running for the office of premier in a state with 1 million registered voters commissions a survey. In the survey, 52% of the 3000 registered voters interviewed say they plan to vote for her. The sample is the:

Question 11

A summary measure that is computed from a population is called a population parameter.

Question 12

Which of the following is the goal of descriptive statistics?

Question 13

A summary measure that is computed from a sample to describe a characteristic of the population is called:

Question 14

Statistical inference is the process of making an estimate, prediction or decision about a population, based on sample data.

Question 15

A summary measure that is computed from a sample to describe a characteristic of the population is called a statistic.

Question 16

Which of the following statements is true? $\begin{array}{|l|l|}\hline\text { A. } & \text {Descriptive statistics never uses graphical techniques. }\\\hline \text { B. } & \text {Descriptive statistics never uses numerical techniques. } \\\hline \text { C. } &\text { Statistical inference is used to describe a sample of data.}\\\hline \text { D. } &\text {Statistical inference is used to draw conclusions about characteristics of }\\&\text {populations based on sample data }\\\hline\end{array}$