The registrar at a small liberal arts college computes description summaries for all members of the entering class on a regular basis.For example, the average high school grade-point average (GPA) for the entering students in the most recent year was 3.16.The Chemistry department is interested in helping all new students who wish to take a chemistry class identify the appropriate course for them, so it offers a placement exam.The department randomly selects a subset of 175 students who took this exam during the past decade, and finds that they had an average score of 71.05 on the exam.The variable of interest to the Chemistry department in this study is:
A) the 175 selected students who took this exam during the past decade.
B) the student scores on the placement exam
C) the average score on the placement exam.
D) the GPA of the 175 students who took the placement exam.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The variable of interest in this study is the students' scores on the placement exam, as the Chemistry department is trying to determine which course is appropriate for each student based on their score. The average score of 71.05 is relevant in understanding the performance of the subset of students who took the exam, but it is not the main variable of interest. The GPA of the selected students is not relevant to this study.

The Registrar at a Small Liberal Arts College Computes Description