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Insurance companies are interested in the mean health costs each year for their clients, so that they can determine the costs of health insurance. Define the following in terms of the study. Give examples where appropriate.

  • Population
  • Sample
  • Parameter
  • Statistic
  • Variable
  • Data
  • The clients of the insurance companies
  • A group of the clients
  • The mean health costs of the clients
  • The mean health costs of the sample
  • X = the health costs of one client
  • Values for X , such as 34, 9, 82, etc.

A politician is interested in the proportion of voters in his district that think he is doing a good job. Define the following in terms of the study. Give examples where appropriate.

  • Population
  • Sample
  • Parameter
  • Statistic
  • Variable
  • Data

A marriage counselor is interested in the proportion the clients she counsels that stay married. Define the following in terms of the study. Give examples where appropriate.

  • Population
  • Sample
  • Parameter
  • Statistic
  • Variable
  • Data
  • All the clients of the counselor
  • A group of the clients
  • The proportion of all her clients who stay married
  • The proportion of the sample who stay married
  • X = the number of couples who stay married
  • yes, no

Political pollsters may be interested in the proportion of people that will vote for a particular cause. Define the following in terms of the study. Give examples where appropriate.

  • Population
  • Sample
  • Parameter
  • Statistic
  • Variable
  • Data

A marketing company is interested in the proportion of people that will buy a particular product. Define the following in terms of the study. Give examples where appropriate.

  • Population
  • Sample
  • Parameter
  • Statistic
  • Variable
  • Data
  • All people (maybe in a certain geographic area, such as the United States)
  • A group of the people
  • The proportion of all people who will buy the product
  • The proportion of the sample who will buy the product
  • X = the number of people who will buy it
  • buy, not buy

Airline companies are interested in the consistency of the number of babies on each flight, so that they have adequate safety equipment. Suppose an airline conducts a survey. Over Thanksgiving weekend, it surveys 6 flights from Boston to Salt Lake City to determine the number of babies on the flights. It determines the amount of safety equipment needed by the result of that study.

  • Using complete sentences, list three things wrong with the way the survey was conducted.
  • Using complete sentences, list three ways that you would improve the survey if it were to be repeated.

Suppose you want to determine the mean number of students per statistics class in your state. Describe a possible sampling method in 3 – 5 complete sentences. Make the description detailed.

Suppose you want to determine the mean number of cans of soda drunk each month by persons in their twenties. Describe a possible sampling method in 3 - 5 complete sentences. Make the description detailed.

771 distance learning students at Long Beach City College responded to surveys in the 2010-11 academic year. Highlights of the summary report are listed in the table below. (Source: http://de.lbcc.edu/reports/2010-11/future/highlights.html#focus).

Lbcc distance learning survey results
Have computer at home 96%
Unable to come to campus for classes 65%
Age 41 or over 24%
Would like LBCC to offer more DL courses 95%
Took DL classes due to a disability 17%
Live at least 16 miles from campus 13%
Took DL courses to fulfill transfer requirements 71%
  • What percent of the students surveyed do not have a computer at home?
  • About how many students in the survey live at least 16 miles from campus?
  • If the same survey was done at Great Basin College in Elko, Nevada, do you think the percentages would be the same? Why?
  • 4%
  • 100

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Source:  OpenStax, Collaborative statistics for mt230. OpenStax CNX. Aug 18, 2011 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11345/1.2
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