In: Statistics and Probability
5. Why is it necessary to assume that the data are distributed normally when calculating a z score?
6. Why do descriptive statistics differ for variables with different levels of measurement?
7. A researcher collects data on the ages of individuals in two separate samples of equal size and concludes that one sample’s distribution is extremely platykurtic and the other sample’s distribution is extremely leptokurtic. What conclusion (if any) can the researcher make about comparisons of the frequency of cases in the modal categories in the two samples? Why?
8. If the z score corresponding to the length of one inmate’s prison sentence is 1.8 and the z score corresponding to the length of another inmate’s prison sentence is 2.5, what could you say about the severity of the first inmate’s sentence relative to the second inmate’s sentence?
9. What is obtained when we calculate a confidence interval?