In: Statistics and Probability
1. Give and example of a case that has both a categorical and quantitative variable someone might be interested in examining.
2. Describe an instance where a graph/chart/histogram/etc. or a median/mean given that was misleading and did not reveal the whole situation.
Give an example of a case that has both a categorical and quantitative variable someone might be interested in examining.
An example of a case that has both quantitative and categorical variables could be a study of the average salary between a male and female. The salary would be the quantitative variable and the gender of the person would be the categorical variable. Another example could be a study of GPA’s from different large public universities such as IU or Purdue. The GPA’s are the quantitative variables and the universities are the categorical variables.
Describe an instance where a graph/chart/histogram/etc. or a median/mean given that was misleading and did not reveal the whole situation.
I am sure we all see misleading graphs or charts on a daily basis. Many times, the misleading factor on charts I see have to do with the numerical values. People will make the Y axis begin at say 50 instead of 0. Then the numbers go up in increments of 5. So, if it starts at 50 and one point on the chart is at 60 and another is at 70, it can mislead the visual interpretation of a chart making one bar seem twice as large than another when in reality it is only a few numbers higher. There needs to be some sort of baseline and that should usually be 0.