CHAPTER ONE

DATA AND STATISTICS

CONCEPTS GUIDE QUESTIONS

Try to answer these questions to test your understanding of Chapter 1 concepts

1. How many scales of measurement exist?

a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4

2. The scale of measurement that is simply a label for the purpose of identifying the
attribute of an element is the
a. ratio scale
b. nominal scale
c. ordinal scale
d. interval scale

3. In a questionnaire, respondents are asked to mark their gender as male or female.

Gender is an example of the
a. ordinal scale
b. nominal scale
c. ratio scale
d. interval scale

4. The nominal scale of measurement has the properties of the

a. ordinal scale
b. only interval scale
c. ratio scale
d. None of the above answers is correct.

5. The scale of measurement that is used to rank order the observation for a variable
is called the
a. ratio scale
b. ordinal scale
c. nominal scale
d. interval scale

6. Some hotels ask their guests to rate the hotel’s services as excellent, very good,
good, and poor. This is an example of the
a. ordinal scale
b. ratio scale
c. nominal scale
d. interval scale

7. The ordinal scale of measurement has the properties of the

1
2 Data and Statistics

a. ratio scale
b. interval scale
c. nominal scale
d. ratio and interval scales

8. The ratio scale of measurement has the properties of

a. only the ordinal scale
b. only the nominal scale
c. the rank scale
d. the interval scale

9. Temperature is an example of a variable that uses

a. the ratio scale
b. the interval scale
c. the ordinal scale
d. either the ratio or the ordinal scale

10. The interval scale of measurement has the properties of the

a. ratio and nominal scales
b. ratio and ordinal scales
c. ratio scale
d. None of the above answers is correct.

11. Arithmetic operations are inappropriate for

a. the ratio scale
b. the interval scale
c. both the ratio and interval scales
d. the nominal scale

12. Income is an example of a variable that uses the

a. ratio scale
b. interval scale
c. nominal scale
d. ordinal scale

13. Data obtained from a nominal scale

a. must be alphabetic
b. can be either numeric or nonnumeric
c. must be numeric
d. must rank order the data

14. The scale of measurement that has an inherent zero value defined is the
a. ratio scale
b. nominal scale
c. ordinal scale
d. interval scale

15. Arithmetic operations are appropriate for

 Chapter One 3

a. only the ratio scale

b. only the interval scale
c. the nominal scale
d. None of the above answers is correct.

16. Quantitative data refers to data obtained with a(n)

a. ordinal scale
b. nominal scale
c. either interval or ratio scale
d. only interval scale

17. Data
a. are always be numeric
b. are always nonnumeric
c. are the raw material of statistics
d. None of the above answers is correct.

18. The entities on which data are collected are

a. elements
b. populations
c. samples
d. None of the above answers is correct.

19. The set of measurements collected for a particular element is (are) called
a. variables
b. observations
c. samples
d. None of the above answers is correct.

20. A characteristic of interest for the elements is called a(n)

a. sample
b. data set
c. variable
d. None of the above answers is correct.

21. All the data collected in a particular study are referred to as the
a. inference
b. variable
c. data set
d. None of the above answers is correct.

22. Another name for "observations" is

a. views
b. variables
c. cases
d. None of the above answers is correct.

23. Quantitative data

4 Data and Statistics

a. are always nonnumeric

b. may be either numeric or nonnumeric
c. are always numeric
d. None of the above answers is correct.

24. In a questionnaire, respondents are asked to mark their gender as male or female.
Gender is an example of a
a. qualitative variable
b. quantitative variable
c. qualitative or quantitative variable, depending on how the respondents
answered the question
d. None of the above answers is correct.

25. The number of cases will always be the same as the number of
a. variables
b. elements
c. data sets
d. data

26. Qualitative data

a. must be numeric
b. must be nonnumeric
c. cannot be numeric
d. may be either numeric or nonnumeric

27. Qualitative data

a. indicate either how much or how many
b. can not be numeric
c. are labels used to identify attributes of elements
d. must be nonnumeric

28. Ordinary arithmetic operations are meaningful

a. only with qualitative data
b. only with quantitative data
c. either with quantitative or qualitative data
d. None of the above answers is correct.

29. Social security numbers consist of numeric values. Therefore, social security is
an example of
a. a quantitative variable
b. either a quantitative or a qualitative variable
c. an exchange variable
d. a qualitative variable

30. Temperature is an example of

a. a qualitative variable
b. a quantitative variable
c. either a quantitative or qualitative variable
 Chapter One 5

d. neither a quantitative nor qualitative variable

31. For ease of data entry into a university data - base, 1 denotes that the student is an
undergraduate and 2 indicates that the student is a graduate student. In this case
data are
a. qualitative
b. quantitative
c. either qualitative or quantitative
d. neither qualitative nor quantitative

32. Arithmetic operations are inappropriate for

a. qualitative data
b. quantitative data
c. both qualitative and quantitative data
d. large data sets

33. Income is an example of

a. qualitative data
b. either qualitative or quantitative data
c. dollar data
d. quantitative data

34. Data collected at the same, or approximately the same, point in time are
a. time series data
b. approximate time series data
c. crossectional data
d. approximate data

35. Data collected over several time periods are

a. time series data
b. time controlled data
c. crossectional data
d. time crossectional data

36. Statistical studies in which researchers do not control variables of interest are
a. experimental studies
b. uncontrolled experimental studies
c. not of any value
d. observational studies

37. Statistical studies in which researchers control variables of interest are

a. experimental studies
b. control observational studies
c. non-experimental studies
d. observational studies

38. The summaries of data, which may be tabular, graphical, or numerical, are
referred to as
6 Data and Statistics

a. inferential statistics
b. descriptive statistics
c. statistical inference
d. report generation

39. Statistical inference

a. refers to the process of drawing inferences about the sample based on the
characteristics of the population
b. is the same as descriptive statistics
c. is the process of drawing inferences about the population based on the
information taken from the sample
d. is the same as a census

40. The collection of all elements of interest in a particular study is

a. the population
b. the sampling
c. statistical inference
d. descriptive statistics

41. A portion of the population selected to represent the population is called

a. statistical inference
b. descriptive statistics
c. a census
d. a sample

42. In a sample of 800 students in a university, 240, or 30%, are Business majors.
The 30% is an example of
a. a sample
b. a population
c. statistical inference
d. descriptive statistics

43. In a sample of 400 students in a university, 80, or 20%, are Business majors.
Based on the above information, the school's paper reported that "20% of all the
students at the university are Business majors." This report is an example of
a. a sample
b. a population
c. statistical inference
d. descriptive statistics

44. Five hundred residents of a city are polled to obtain information on voting
intentions in an upcoming city election. The five hundred residents in this study
is an example of a(n)
a. census
b. sample
c. observation
d. population
 Chapter One 7

45. A statistics professor asked students in a class their ages. On the basis of this
information, the professor states that the average age of all the students in the
university is 24 years. This is an example of
a. a census
b. descriptive statistics
c. an experiment
d. statistical inference

46. The owner of a factory regularly requests a graphical summary of all employees'
salaries. The graphical summary of salaries is an example of
a. a sample
b. descriptive statistics
c. statistical inference
d. an experiment

47. The Department of Transportation of a city has noted that on the average there
are 17 accidents per day. The average number of accidents is an example of
a. descriptive statistics
b. statistical inference
c. a sample
d. a population

Exhibit 1-1
In a recent study based upon an inspection of 200 homes in Daisy City, 80 were found to
violate one or more city codes.

48. Refer to Exhibit 1-1. The city manager released a statement that 40% of Daisy
City's 2,000 homes are in violation of city codes. The manager's statement is an
example of
a. a census
b. an experiment
c. descriptive statistics
d. statistical inference

49. Refer to Exhibit 1-1. The Daisy City study described above is an example of the
use of a
a. census
b. sample
c. probability
d. population

50. Refer to Exhibit 1-1. The manager's statement that 40% of Daisy City's 2,000
homes are in violation of city codes is
a. an exactly correct statement
b. only an approximation, since it is based upon sample information
c. obviously wrong, since it is based upon a study of only 200 homes
d. None of the above answers is correct.
8 Data and Statistics

Exhibit 1-2
In a sample of 1,600 registered voters, 912, or 57%, approve of the way the President is
doing his job.

51. Refer to Exhibit 1-2. The 57% approval is an example of

a. a sample
b. descriptive statistics
c. statistical inference
d. a population

52. Refer to Exhibit 1-2. A political pollster states: "Fifty-seven percent of all voters
approve of the President." This statement is an example of
a. a sample
b. descriptive statistics
c. statistical inference
d. a population

53. The process of analyzing sample data in order to draw conclusions about the
characteristics of a population is called
a. descriptive statistics
b. statistical inference
c. data analysis
d. data summarization

54. In a post office, the mailboxes are numbered from 1 to 4,500. These numbers
represent
a. qualitative data
b. quantitative data
c. either qualitative or quantitative data
d. since the numbers are sequential, the data is quantitative

55. The average age in a sample of 190 students at City College is 22. As a result of
this sample, it can be concluded that the average age of all the students at City
College
a. must be more than 22, since the population is always larger than the sample
b. must be less than 22, since the sample is only a part of the population
c. could not be 22
d. could be larger, smaller, or equal to 22

56. Since a sample is a subset of the population, the sample mean

a. is always smaller than the mean of the population
b. is always larger than the mean of the population
c. must be equal to the mean of the population
d. can be larger, smaller, or equal to the mean of the population