Question 1

Bob said,"Why study math and statistics? I'm majoring in human resources because it's people that are important in business,not numbers." Argue both for and against Bob's statement.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Bob said,"Why study math and statistics? I'm...

Question 2

Which is not a likely area of application of statistics in business?
A) Auditing supplier invoices for correct payment
B) Questioning the executives' strategic decisions
C) Looking for patterns in a large marketing database
D) Making forecasts of several key product lines

Accepted Answer

As a statistical analysis of executive decision-making sometimes may not be received positively by executives, it may not always be a likely area of application of statistics in business.

Question 3

How might statistics be useful in determining the correct width of doorways in a convalescent care facility so that 99 percent of the "typical" wheelchairs can pass through the doorway without coming closer than 6 inches on either side?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How might statistics be useful in determining...

Question 4

"Tom's SUV rolled over.SUVs are dangerous." This best illustrates which fallacy?
A) Unconscious bias
B) Significance versus practical importance
C) Post hoc reasoning
D) Small sample generalization

Accepted Answer

The statement generalizes that SUVs are dangerous based on a single incident involving Tom's SUV, which is a classic example of small sample generalization. It incorrectly assumes that what is true for one case is true for all similar cases without sufficient evidence.

Question 5

We would associate the term inferential statistics with which task?
A) Making visual displays of data
B) Estimating unknown parameters
C) Describing a sample of data
D) Tabulating a survey

Accepted Answer

Inferential statistics is all about using sample data to make inferences or predictions about the population from which the sample was drawn. Estimating unknown parameters is one of the main tasks of inferential statistics.

Question 6

Which is not a reason for an average student to study statistics?
A) Improve technical writing skills
B) Gain information management skills
C) Enhance technical literacy
D) Learn stock market strategies

Accepted Answer

Learning stock market strategies is not a typical reason for an average student to study statistics. The other options are all valid benefits of studying statistics.

Question 7

Established risk factors such as cholesterol and obesity can predict who will get heart disease about 80 percent of the time.Adding a new test called CRP can raise this percentage to 81 percent-a statistically significant difference.But would this improvement be of practical importance to a physician? To a patient? Discuss.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Established risk factors such as cholesterol and...

Question 8

Which is not a likely task of descriptive statistics?
A) Summarizing a sample
B) Describing data numerically
C) Estimating unknown parameters
D) Making visual displays of data

Accepted Answer

Descriptive statistics is used for summarizing and describing a set of data, not for estimating unknown parameters, which is the task of inferential statistics.

Question 9

"Bob didn't wear his lucky T-shirt to class,so he failed his chemistry exam." This best illustrates which fallacy?
A) Small sample generalization
B) Poor survey methods
C) Post hoc reasoning
D) More than one of the above

Accepted Answer

This is an example of post hoc reasoning, which suggests that one event caused another simply because it occurred before it. In this case, Bob's failure on his chemistry exam is attributed to not wearing his lucky T-shirt, although there may be numerous other reasons for his poor performance.

Question 10

Bob said,"Since statistics cannot tell for certain whether one thing caused another,there is no point in even reporting probabilities." Argue both for and against Bob's statement.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Bob said,"Since statistics cannot tell for certain...

Quiz 1: Overview of Statistics

Bob said,"Why study math and statistics? I'm majoring in human resources because it's people that are important in business,not numbers." Argue both for and against Bob's statement.

Which is not a likely area of application of statistics in business?

How might statistics be useful in determining the correct width of doorways in a convalescent care facility so that 99 percent of the "typical" wheelchairs can pass through the doorway without coming closer than 6 inches on either side?

"Tom's SUV rolled over.SUVs are dangerous." This best illustrates which fallacy?

We would associate the term inferential statistics with which task?

Which is not a reason for an average student to study statistics?

Which is not a likely task of descriptive statistics?

"Bob didn't wear his lucky T-shirt to class,so he failed his chemistry exam." This best illustrates which fallacy?

Bob said,"Since statistics cannot tell for certain whether one thing caused another,there is no point in even reporting probabilities." Argue both for and against Bob's statement.