Basic Statistics

1. A survey indicates that male employees were more likely than females to relocate without being promoted. What information would you want to know before you accepted the results of this survey?

2. At your place of employment, 100 employees are randomly selected and asked the distance of their commute to work. From this group a mean of 15.2 miles is computed. Identify the following as either (a) observation, (b) parameter, (c) population, (d) sample, or (e) statistic:
? All employees at that place of employment.
? The computed 15.2 miles.
? The 100 students selected.
? Six miles distance traveled by one employee.
? The mean commute distance for all employees at that place of employment.

3. Given a sample of 50 IQ scores ranging from 80 to 145, if the 145 were accidentally typed in error as a 415, what would be the impact on the following statistics? (Answer with increase, decrease or remains the same.)
? The mean.
? The median.
? The standard deviation.
? The range.

4. The data contained in the "Drink" file represent the amount of soft drink in a sample of 50 2-liter bottles.

? Construct a frequency distribution and a percentage distribution
? Construct a histogram and percentage polygon
? Form a cumulative percentage distribution and plot a cumulative percentage polygon
? On the basis of the results of (a) through (c), does the amount of soft drink filled in the bottle concentrate around specific values?

5. A sample of 50 complaints concerning carpet installation was selected during a recent year. The "Furniture" file represents the number of days between the receipt of a complaint and the resolution of the complaint:

? Compute the mean, median, first quartile, and third quartile
? Compute the range, interquartile range, variance, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation
? Construct a box-and-whisker plot. Are the data skewed? If so, how?
? On the basis of the results of (a) through (c), if you had to tell the president of the company how long a customer should expect to wait to have a complaint resolved, what should you say?

6. Use the "Cumba" file to answer the following:
? There are several variables in the "Employee Database" file (i.e., salary, gender, age, experience, management level, and education level). What is the level of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio) for each of these six variables?

? Using the experience data only, conduct a statistical analysis of the tenure of employees at Cumba, Inc. using the "Descriptive Statistics" and "Frequency Distribution" files (choose intervals). In one or two sentences, describe the results.

7. You were asked by a client about the "typical" home in a subdivision, and you have gathered the following information on each house in the subdivision: Price, square footage, numbers of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, and age. What statistic (mean, median, or mode) would you use to describe each aspect of the typical home and why?