A researcher wants to know what the average variation is in altimeters of small, privately owned airplanes. The task of determining this is expensive and time consuming, if even possible, given the large number of such airplanes. The researcher decides to use government records to randomly locate the owners of ten such planes and then get permission to test the altimeters. When the researcher is done, he will use the data gathered from the group of ten to reach conclusions about all small, privately owned airplanes. This process can best be described as ___.
A) data statistics
B) research statistics
C) descriptive statistics
D) inferential statistics
E) summary statiistics

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The researcher is using a sample of ten small, privately owned airplanes to draw conclusions about all small, privately owned airplanes. This is an example of inferential statistics, which involves drawing conclusions about a population based on a sample.

A Researcher Wants to Know What the Average Variation Is