1.2 Data, Sampling, and Variation in Data and Sampling — Introductory Business Statistics 2e

1.2 Exercise 1

The data are the number of machines in a gym. You sample five gyms. One gym has 12 machines, one gym has 15 machines, one gym has ten machines, one gym has 22 machines, and the other gym has 20 machines. What type of data is this?

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1.2 Exercise 2

The data are the areas of lawns in square feet. You sample five houses. The areas of the lawns are 144 sq. feet, 160 sq. feet, 190 sq. feet, 180 sq. feet, and 210 sq. feet. What type of data is this?

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1.2 Exercise 3

You go to the supermarket and purchase three cans of soup (19 ounces tomato bisque, 14.1 ounces lentil, and 19 ounces Italian wedding), two packages of nuts (walnuts and peanuts), four different kinds of vegetable (broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, and carrots), and two desserts (16 ounces pistachio ice cream and 32 ounces chocolate chip cookies).

Name data sets that are quantitative discrete, quant…

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1.2 Exercise 4

The following list of materials was purchased by a purchasing manager in a company:

Two types of nails (2 kg box nails, 3 kg roofing nails)
One type of oil (4 L machine oil)
Four types of screws (3 kg wood screws, 5 kg machine screws, 1 kg set screws, 2 kg socket screws)

Name data sets that are quantitative discrete, quantitative continuous, and qualitative.

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1.2 Exercise 5

The data are the colors of houses. You sample five houses. The colors of the houses are white, yellow, white, red, and white. What type of data is this?

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1.2 Exercise 6

Work collaboratively to determine the correct data type (quantitative or qualitative). Indicate whether quantitative data are continuous or discrete. Hint: Data that are discrete often start with the words "the number of."

the number of pairs of shoes you own
the type of car you drive
the distance from your home to the nearest grocery store
the number of classes you take per school year
the type o…

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1.2 Exercise 7

Determine the correct data type (quantitative or qualitative) for the number of cars in a parking lot. Indicate whether quantitative data are continuous or discrete.

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1.2 Exercise 10

A study is done to determine the average tuition that San Jose State undergraduate students pay per semester. Each student in the following samples is asked how much tuition they paid for the Fall semester. What is the type of sampling in each case?

A sample of 100 undergraduate San Jose State students is taken by organizing the students’ names by classification (first-year student, sophomore, juni…

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1.2 Exercise 12

Determine the type of sampling used (simple random, stratified, systematic, cluster, or convenience).

A soccer coach selects six players from a group of boys aged eight to ten, seven players from a group of boys aged 11 to 12, and three players from a group of boys aged 13 to 14 to form a recreational soccer team.
A pollster interviews all human resource personnel in five different high tech comp…

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1.2 Exercise 14

It is unlikely that any student is in both samples.

a. Do you think that either of these samples is representative of (or is characteristic of) the entire 10,000 part-time student population?

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1.2 Exercise 15

It is unlikely that any student is in both samples.

b. Since these samples are not representative of the entire population, is it wise to use the results to describe the entire population?

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1.2 Exercise 16

$180
$50
$150
$85
$260
$75
$180
$200
$200
$150

c. Is the sample biased?

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1.2 Exercise 17

A local radio station has a fan base of 20,000 listeners. The station wants to know if its audience would prefer more music or more talk shows. Asking all 20,000 listeners is an almost impossible task.

The station uses convenience sampling and surveys the first 200 people they meet at one of the station’s music concert events. 24 people said they’d prefer more talk shows, and 176 people said they’d…

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