Question 1

Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively strong argument by supplying an appropriate premise or conclusion:Greg must be into all that New Age stuff since he wears his hair in a ponytail.

Accepted Answer

Most people who wear their hair in a ponytail are New Agers

Question 2

With the same confidence level,a generalization from a larger sample will have
A)less strength.
B)a smaller error margin.
C)a larger error margin.
D)a larger population.

Accepted Answer

With a larger sample size, the statistical confidence in the findings increases, leading to a smaller error margin. This means the results are considered more precise.

Question 3

Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively strong argument by supplying an appropriate premise or conclusion:A vast number of people who care about sustainability have a vegetable garden,so Scott probably does,too.

Accepted Answer

Scott cares about sustainability.

Question 4

Lin sends away for a hot-cold serving tray she has seen advertised.The tray is promised to keep hot dishes hot and cold dishes cold without electricity.Lin tries it out by placing a pan of hot beans on it.They stay hot throughout dinner."It works," she tells her husband.
What causal claim (if any)is stated or implied in Lin's conclusion?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Lin sends away for a hot-cold serving...

Question 5

Lin sends away for a hot-cold serving tray she has seen advertised.The tray is promised to keep hot dishes hot and cold dishes cold without electricity.Lin tries it out by placing a pan of hot beans on it.They stay hot throughout dinner."It works," she tells her husband.
Is Lin using good causal reasoning?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Lin sends away for a hot-cold serving...

Question 6

Juanita has taken six courses at Valley Community College,and she has a grade average of B so far.All the courses she has taken have been in sociology and psychology.She's thinking of enrolling in another course next term,and she expects to make at least a B in whatever she takes.If we don't know yet what subject she will take,would her argument be stronger,weaker,or neither if her previous six courses had been in four different subjects rather than two?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Juanita has taken six courses at Valley...

Question 7

Lin sends away for a hot-cold serving tray she has seen advertised.The tray is promised to keep hot dishes hot and cold dishes cold without electricity.Lin tries it out by placing a pan of hot beans on it.They stay hot throughout dinner."It works," she tells her husband.
What kind of causal claim is this?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Lin sends away for a hot-cold serving...

Question 8

Lin sends away for a hot-cold serving tray she has seen advertised.The tray is promised to keep hot dishes hot and cold dishes cold without electricity.Lin tries it out by placing a pan of hot beans on it.They stay hot throughout dinner."It works," she tells her husband.
Do you think there could be a better test of the hot plate? Explain your response in a sentence or two.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Lin sends away for a hot-cold serving...

Question 9

Juanita has taken six courses at Valley Community College,and she has a grade average of B so far.All the courses she has taken have been in sociology and psychology.She's thinking of enrolling in another course next term,and she expects to make at least a B in whatever she takes.Would you assess Juanita's argument as stronger,weaker,or neither if you knew that she had made a B in each of her previous courses and not just that she has a B average?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Juanita has taken six courses at Valley...

Question 10

Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively strong argument by supplying an appropriate premise or conclusion:Most people with old cars have financial problems,so Anne and Dennis must be struggling financially.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively...

Question 11

Juanita has taken six courses at Valley Community College,and she has a grade average of B so far.All the courses she has taken have been in sociology and psychology.She's thinking of enrolling in another course next term,and she expects to make at least a B in whatever she takes.Would Juanita's argument be stronger,weaker,or neither if we knew that the new course will be in psychology?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Juanita has taken six courses at Valley...

Question 12

Juanita has taken six courses at Valley Community College,and she has a grade average of B so far.All the courses she has taken have been in sociology and psychology.She's thinking of enrolling in another course next term,and she expects to make at least a B in whatever she takes.Suppose that when she took the previous courses,Juanita had done all her studying alone because she didn't know any of the other students at Valley but that now she knows several good students and plans to study with them when she takes her next course.Would her argument be stronger or weaker?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Juanita has taken six courses at Valley...

Question 13

Lin sends away for a hot-cold serving tray she has seen advertised.The tray is promised to keep hot dishes hot and cold dishes cold without electricity.Lin tries it out by placing a pan of hot beans on it.They stay hot throughout dinner."It works," she tells her husband.
Invent at least one plausible alternative explanation of the effect.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Lin sends away for a hot-cold serving...

Question 14

Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively strong argument by supplying an appropriate premise or conclusion:We're going to the home of our Italian friends,Marco and Claudia,for dinner.I suspect it'll be really good.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively...

Question 15

A sample is random if
A)it is chosen by a method the investigator does not know anything about.
B)it is representative.
C)every member of the population has an equal chance at being selected for the sample.

Accepted Answer

A random sample is one in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample. This ensures that the sample is representative and unbiased. A sample chosen by a method the investigator does not know anything about (choice A) may not be random and could introduce bias. Representation (choice B) is related to random sampling, but not sufficient on its own to ensure that a sample is random.

Question 16

When we generalize from a sample,we draw a conclusion
A)about a sample based on a population.
B)about a population based on a sample.
C)about an attribute of interest based on a population.

Accepted Answer

When we generalize from a sample, we draw a conclusion about a population based on a sample. We use the information collected from a sample to make inferences or predictions about the characteristics of a larger group or population.

Question 17

Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively strong argument by supplying an appropriate premise or conclusion:People who go to Burning Man are not like you and me.Why just look at how odd Greg is!

Accepted Answer

The answer of Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively...

Question 18

In generalizing from a sample,in order to achieve an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points at a confidence level of about 95 percent,what's the smallest random sample we can get away with,regardless of the size of the population?
A)10 percent of the population
B)100
C)500
D)1,000
E)5,000

Accepted Answer

The answer of In generalizing from a sample,in order to...

Question 19

Lin sends away for a hot-cold serving tray she has seen advertised.The tray is promised to keep hot dishes hot and cold dishes cold without electricity.Lin tries it out by placing a pan of hot beans on it.They stay hot throughout dinner."It works," she tells her husband.
What type of argument or pattern of reasoning is employed?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Lin sends away for a hot-cold serving...

Question 20

Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively strong argument by supplying an appropriate premise or conclusion:Dennis plays trumpet in the marching band at Yale,so he probably doesn't have a girlfriend.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively...

Quiz 11: Inductive Reasoning

Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively strong argument by supplying an appropriate premise or conclusion:Greg must be into all that New Age stuff since he wears his hair in a ponytail.

With the same confidence level,a generalization from a larger sample will have

Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively strong argument by supplying an appropriate premise or conclusion:A vast number of people who care about sustainability have a vegetable garden,so Scott probably does,too.

Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively strong argument by supplying an appropriate premise or conclusion:Most people with old cars have financial problems,so Anne and Dennis must be struggling financially.

Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively strong argument by supplying an appropriate premise or conclusion:We're going to the home of our Italian friends,Marco and Claudia,for dinner.I suspect it'll be really good.

A sample is random if

When we generalize from a sample,we draw a conclusion

Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively strong argument by supplying an appropriate premise or conclusion:People who go to Burning Man are not like you and me.Why just look at how odd Greg is!

In generalizing from a sample,in order to achieve an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points at a confidence level of about 95 percent,what's the smallest random sample we can get away with,regardless of the size of the population?

Make this inductive (statistical)syllogism into a relatively strong argument by supplying an appropriate premise or conclusion:Dennis plays trumpet in the marching band at Yale,so he probably doesn't have a girlfriend.