Quiz 1



STA 10 Quiz 1 Name:

1. Which of these does not apply to the word ‘statistics’?

a. Statistics are numbers measured for some purpose.

b. Statistics is a collection of procedures for collecting and analyzing data.

c. Statistics is a tool to help you make decisions when faced with uncertainty.

d. All of the above apply to the word ‘statistics’.

2. Which of the following questions cannot be addressed using statistics?

a. What percentage of people in the U.S. are cell phone owners?

b. Which of these two medicines has a better success rate at lowering cholesterol?

c. Do mothers most often hold their babies in their arms so the baby is on the left side?

d. All of the above can be addressed using statistics.

3. Suppose you want to determine how Americans feel about reality TV. Which of the following samples contains the least amount of bias?

a. All the people who phone in their opinion on reality TV to a CBS Evening News call-in poll.

b. All those who were randomly selected to receive a reality TV survey in the mail.

c. People who call the networks during reality TV programs to voice their opinion.

d. People who respond to an Internet survey at

4. Which of the following is the best definition of the term ‘data’?

a. Any number, such as 1, 3, or 10.

b. Numbers such as 1 and 10 and words such as yes or no.

c. Any number or other piece of information to which meaning has been attached.

d. None of the above.

5. Which of the following components of a good news report cannot be controlled by the researcher?

a. The exact nature of the measurements made.

b. The individuals or objects studied and how they were selected.

c. The differences in the groups being compared, in addition to the factor of interest.

d. The amount of difference in the actual results.

6. Which of the following is a true statement?

a. You can’t totally eliminate bias in a study, no matter what you do.

b. If you do everything right, you will come out with the right conclusion every time when using statistics.

c. You don’t need all seven of the components of a good study in order to be confident in your results; you only need most of them.

d. All of the above are true statements.

7. What is the biggest problem with having open questions on a survey or in an experiment?

a. The participants’ responses are difficult to summarize or categorize.

b. You have to worry more about how an open question is worded than how a closed question is worded.

c. There is no problem with open questions; they provide the most accurate information about how a person really feels.

d. None of the above.

8. If you used a 12-inch ruler to measure the distance across a large pond, which of the following aspects of a good measurement would you be violating?

a. Validity

b. Reliability

c. Unbiasedness

d. None of the above.

9. What motivates a respondent to understate the true response about an undesirable social habit such as smoking?

a. Wanting to create deliberate bias

b. Desire to please

c. Lack of memory

d. None of the above

10. Why is it important to know how the individuals or objects in a study were selected?

a. It is important to know to whom the results can be extended.

b. It is important for determining whether or not there is bias in the results.

c. Both a) and b) are true.

d. It is not important to know how the individuals were selected; only the size of the sample matters.

11. Explain the difference between the statistical terms ‘population’ and ‘sample'.

12. When you see the phrase ‘of those who responded’ in reference to the results of a survey, what do you need to worry about? Explain your answer.

13. Explain the difference between confidentiality and anonymity in a survey situation.

14. Political pollsters, who are only interested in surveying people who will actually vote, learned long ago that to determine whether or not someone is a likely voter, it is useless to simply ask them if they plan to vote. Explain why.

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