Graded Homework Assignment 1Unit 1 – Lessons 1 and
2
1. Athletes’ salaries. Here is a small part of a data set that
describes Major League Baseball players as of opening day of the
2011 season:
(a) What individuals does this data set describe?
(b) In addition to the player’s name, how many variables does
the data set contain? Which of these variables take numerical
values? Which of the variables are not numerical variables?
(c) What do you think are the units in which each of the
numerical variable salary is expressed? For example, what does it
mean to give Josh Beckett’s annual salary as 17,000? (Hint: The
average annual salary of a Major League Baseball player on opening
day, 2011, was $3,305,393.)
2. Sampling moms. Pregnant and breast-feeding women should eat
at least 12 ounces of fish and seafood per week to ensure their
babies’ optimal brain development, according to a coalition of top
scientists from private groups and federal agencies. A nutritionist
wants to know whether pregnant women are eating at least 12 ounces
of fish per week. To do so, she obtains a list of the 340 members
of a local chain of prenatal fitness clubs and mails a
questionnaire to 60 of these women selected at random. Only 21
questionnaires are returned.
(a) What is the variable measured in this study?
__________________________________________________
(b) What is the population in this study?
________________________________________________________
(c) What is the sample from which information is actually
obtained? _________________________________
(d) What percentage of the women whom the nutritionist tried
to contact responded? ____________________
(e) Is this an observational study or an experiment?
_______________________________________________
3. Oatmeal and cholesterol. Does eating oatmeal reduce the
level of bad cholesterol (LDL)? Here are two ways to study this
question.
1. A researcher finds 500 adults over 40 who regularly eat
oatmeal or products made from oatmeal. She matches each with a
similar adult who does not regularly eat oatmeal or products made
from oatmeal. She measures the bad cholesterol (LDL) for each adult
and compares both groups.
2. Another researcher finds 1000 adults over 40 who do not
regularly eat oatmeal or products made from oatmeal and are willing
to participate in a study. She randomly assigns 500 of these to a
diet that includes a daily breakfast of oatmeal. The other 500
continue their usual habits. After 6 months, she compares changes
in LDL levels.
(a) One of these studies is an observational study and the
other is an experiment. Identify with study it the experiment and
which study is the observational study and explain why for
each.
Study 1: Observational StudyExperiment
Explanation:
Study 2: Observational StudyExperiment
Explanation:
(b) Why does the experiment give more useful information about
whether oatmeal reduces LDL?
4. Choose your study type. What is the best way to answer each
of the questions below: an experiment, a sample survey, or an
observational study that is not a sample survey? Explain your
choices.
(a) Is your school’s basketball team called for fewer fouls in
home games than in away games?
(b) Are college students satisfied with the quality of
recreational facilities available to them?
(c) Do college students who have access to audio recordings of
course lectures perform better in the course than those who
don’t?
5. Choose your study purpose. Give an example of a question
about college students, their behavior, or their opinions that
would best be answered by
(a) a sample survey.
(b) an observational study that is not a sample survey.
(c) an experiment.
6. Definitions. What is the difference between a census and a
sample survey?
7. Instant opinion. On March 29, 2007, BusinessWeek ran an
online poll on their Web site and asked readers the question “Do
you think Google is too powerful?” Readers clicked on one of three
buttons (“Yes,” “No,” or “Not sure”) to vote. In all, 1336 (35.9%)
said “Yes,” 2051 (55.1%) said “No,” and 335 (9.0%) said “Not
sure.”
(a) What is the sample size for this poll?
___________________________________________
(b) At the Web site, BusinessWeek includes the following
statement about its online poll. “Note: These are surveys, not
scientific polls.” Explain why the poll may give unreliable
information.
(c) Just above the poll question was the following statement:
“Google’s accelerating lead in search and its moves into software
and traditional advertising are sparking a backlash among rivals.”
How might this statement affect the poll results?
8. Ann Landers takes a sample. Advice columnist Ann Landers
once asked her divorced readers whether they regretted their
decision to divorce. She received approximately 30,000 responses,
about 23,000 of which came from women. Nearly 75% said they were
glad they divorced, and most of them said they wished they had done
it sooner. Explain why this sample is certainly biased. What is the
likely direction of the bias? That is, is 75% probably higher or
lower than the truth about the population of all adults who have
been divorced?
9. A call-in opinion poll. In 2005 the San Francisco Bay Times
reported on a poll in New Zealand that found that New Zealanders
opposed the nation’s new gay-inclusive civil-unions law by a 3-1
ratio, that is, New Zealanders opposed the law by a margin of 75%
to 25%.. This poll was a call-in poll that cost $1 to participate
in. The San Francisco Bay Times article also reported that a
scientific polling organization found that New Zealanders favor the
law by a margin of 56.4% to 39.3%. Explain to someone who knows no
statistics why the two polls can give such widely differing results
and which poll is likely to be more reliable.
10. Choose an SRS. A firm wants to understand the attitudes of
its minority managers toward its system for assessing management
performance. Below is a list of all the firm’s managers who are
members of minority groups. Use Table A at line 134 to choose 6 to
be interviewed in detail about the performance appraisal
system.
01
Berliner
09
Hans
17
Liu
25
Rumsey
02
Browne
10
Herbei
18
MacEachern
26
Shantner
03
Calder
11
Holloman
19
Niller
27
Shi
04
Craigmile
12
Hsu
20
Nagaraja
28
Stasny
05
Cressie
13
Kaizar
21
Notz
29
Turkmen
06
Critchlow
14
Kubatko
22
Ozturk
30
Verducci
07
Dean
15
Lee
23
Pearl
31
Wolfe
08
Goel
16
Lin
24
Peruggia
32
Xu
SRS:
________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
11. An election day sample. You want to choose an SRS of 20 of
a city’s 480 voting precincts for special voting-fraud surveillance
on election day.
(a) Explain clearly how you would label the 480 precincts. How
many digits make up each of your labels? What is the greatest
number of precincts you could label using this number of
digits?
(b) Use Table A to choose the SRS, and list the labels of the
precincts you selected. Enter Table A at line 107.
Labels for the twenty precincts selected:
12. Apartment living. You are planning a report on apartment
living in a college town. You decide to select three apartment
complexes at random for in-depth interviews with residents. Use
Table A, starting at line 121, to select a simple random sample of
three of the following apartment complexes.
01
Albany Commons
13
Gaslight Village
25
Oak Run
02
Apple Run
14
Georgetowne
26
Old Nantucket
03
Bexley Court
15
Golf Pointe
27
Parliament Ridge
04
Brooks Edge
16
Hickory Mill
28
Pheasant Run
05
Canterbury Way
17
Highview Place
29
Ravine Bluff
06
Chablis Villas
18
Indian Creek
30
Rocky Creek
07
Cherryblossom Way
19
Jefferson Commons
31
Scioto Commons
08
Dublin Plaza
20
Kenbrook Village
32
Stratford East
09
English Village
21
Lawn Manor
33
Timbercreek
10
Fairway Lakes
22
Little Brook Place
34
Walnut Knolls
11
Forest Creek
23
Marble Cliff
35
Woodland Trace
12
Forest Park
24
Morse Glen
36
York Terrace
SRS:
___________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
TABLE A Random digits
Line
101 19223 95034 05756 28713 96409 12531 42544
82853
102 73676 47150 99400 01927 27754 42648 82425
36290
103 45467 71709 77558 00095 32863 29485 82226
90056
104 52711 38889 9307460227 40011 85848 48767
52573
105 95592 94007 6997191481 60779 53791 17297
59335
106 68417 35013 1552972765 85089 57067 50211
47487
107 82739 57890 2080747511 81676 55300 94383
14893
108 60940 72024 1786824943 61790 90656 87964
18883
109 36009 19365 1541239638 85453 46816 83485
41979
110 38448 48789 18338 24697 39364 42006 76688
08708
111 81486 69487 60513 09297 00412 71238 27649
39950
112 59636 88804 04634 71197 19352 73089 84898
45785
113 62568 70206 40325 03699 71080 22553 11486
11776
114 45149 32992 75730 66280 03819 56202 02938
70915
115 61041 77684 94322 24709 73698 14526 31893
32592
116 14459 26056 31424 80371 65103 62253 50490
61181
117 38167 98532 62183 70632 23417 26185 41448
75532
118 73190 32533 04470 29669 84407 90785 65956
86382
119 95857 07118 87664 92099 58806 66979 98624
84826
120 35476 55972 39421 65850 04266 35435 43742
11937
121 71487 09984 29077 14863 61683 47052 62224
51025
122 13873 81598 95052 90908 73592 75186 87136
95761
123 54580 81507 27102 56027 55892 33063 41842
81868
124 71035 09001 43367 49497 72719 96758 27611
91596
125 96746 12149 37823 71868 18442 35119 62103
39244
126 96927 19931 36089 74192 77567 88741 48409
41903
127 43909 99477 25330 64359 40085 16925 85117
36071
128 15689 14227 06565 14374 13352 49367 81982
87209
129 36759 58984 68288 22913 18638 54303 00795
08727
130 69051 64817 87174 09517 84534 06489 87201
97245
131 05007 16632 81194 14873 04197 85576 45195
96565
132 68732 55259 84292 08796 43165 93739 31685
97150
133 45740 41807 65561 33302 07051 93623 18132
09547
134 27816 78416 18329 21337 35213 37741 04312
68508
135 66925 55658 39100 78458 11206 19876 87151
31260
136 08421 44753 77377 28744 75592 08563 79140
92454
137 53645 66812 61421 47836 12609 15373 98481
14592
138 66831 68908 40772 21558 47781 33586 79177
06928
139 55588 99404 70708 41098 43563 56934 48394
51719
140 12975 13258 13048 45144 72321 81940 00360
02428
141 96767 35964 23822 96012 94591 65194 50842
53372
142 72829 50232 97892 63408 77919 44575 24870
04178
143 88565 42628 17797 49376 61762 16953 88604
12724
144 62964 88145 83083 69453 46109 59505 69680
00900
145 19687 12633 57857 95806 09931 02150 43163
58636
146 37609 59057 66967 83401 60705 02384 90597
93600
147 54973 86278 88737 74351 47500 84552 19909
67181
148 00694 05977 19664 65441 20903 62371 22725
53340
149 71546 05233 53946 68743 72460 27601 45403
88692
150 07511 88915 41267 16853 84569 79367 32337
03316