1. For each of the following statements, indicate whether it is True/False.

If false,
explain why.

I. The sample size of the survey should at least be a fixed percentage of the
population size in order to produce representative results.

II. The sampling frame is a list of every item that appears in a survey sample,
including those that did not respond to questions.

III. Larger surveys convey a more accurate impression of the population than
smaller surveys.

2. PC Magazine asked all of its readers to participate in a survey of their satisfaction

with different brands of electronics. In the 2004 survey, which was included in an
issue of the magazine that year, more than 9000 readers rated the products on a scale
from 1 to 10. The magazine reported that the average rating assigned by 225 readers
to a Kodak compact digital camera was 7.5. For this product, identify the following:

A. The population
B. The parameter of interest
C. The sampling frame
D. The sample size
E. The sampling design
F. Any potential sources of bias or other problems with the survey or sample

3. For each of the following statements, indicate whether it is True/False. If false,

explain why.

I. If the 95% confidence interval for the average purchase of customers at a

department store is $50 to $110, then $100 is a plausible value for the
population mean at this level of confidence.

II. If the 95% confidence interval for the number of moviegoers who purchase
concessions is 30% to 45%, this means that fewer than half of all moviegoers
purchase concessions.

III. The 95% Confidence-Interval for μ only applies if the sample data are nearly
normally distributed.

4. What are the chances that X   ?

A. ¼
B. ½
 C. ¾
D. 1

5. In January 2005, a company that monitors Internet traffic (WebSideStory) reported

that its sampling revealed that the Mozilla Firefox browser launched in 2004 had
grabbed a 4.6% share of the market.

I. If the sample were based on 2,000 users, could Microsoft conclude that
Mozilla has a less than 5% share of the market?

II. WebSideStory claims that its sample includes all the daily Internet users. If
that’s the case, then can Microsoft conclude that Mozilla has a less than 5%
share of the market?

6. A book publisher monitors the size of shipments of its textbooks to university

bookstores. For a sample of texts used at various schools, the 95% confidence
interval for the size of the shipment was 250 ± 45 books. Which, if any, of the
following interpretations of this interval are correct?

A. All shipments are between 205 and 295 books.

B. 95% of shipments are between 205 and 295 books.

C. The procedure that produced this interval generates ranges that hold the
population mean for 95% of samples.

D. If we get another sample, then we can be 95% sure that the mean of this
second sample is between 205 and 295.

E. We can be 95% confident that the range 160 to 340 holds the population
mean.

7. Which is shorter: a 95% z-interval or a 95% t-interval for μ if we know that σ =s?

A. The z-interval is shorter

B. The t-interval is shorter
C. Both are equal
D. We cannot say

Questions 8 and 9 are based on the following: To prepare a report on the economy,
analysts need to estimate the percentage of businesses that plan to hire additional
employees in the next 60 days.
8. How many randomly selected employers (minimum number) must we contact in
order to guarantee a margin of error of no more than 4% (at 95% confidence)?

A. 600
B. 400
C. 550
D. 1000

9. Suppose we want the above margin of error to be based on a 98% confidence level.
What sample size (minimum) must we now use?

A. 1000
B. 757
C. 848
D. 543

10. Examine the following normal Quantile plots carefully. Which of these plots
indicates that the data?
1. Are nearly normal?
2. Have a bimodal distribution? (One way to recognize a bimodal shape is a “gap”
in the spacing of adjacent data values.)
3. Are skewed (i.e. not symmetric)?
4. Have outliers on both sides of the center?

11. For each of the following statements, indicate whether it is True/False. If false,
explain why.

The manager of a warehouse monitors the volume of shipments made by the

delivery team. The automated tracking system tracks every package as it moves
through the facility. A sample of 25 packages is selected and weighed every day.
Based on current contracts with customers, the weights should have μ = 22 lbs. and σ
= 5 lbs.

i) Before using a normal model for the sampling distribution of the average
package weights, the manager must confirm that weights of individual
packages are normally distributed.
 ii) The standard error of the daily average SE(𝑥̅ ) = 1.

12. Auditors at a small community bank randomly sample 100 withdrawal transactions
made during the week at an ATM machine located near the bank’s main branch.
Over the past 2 years, the average withdrawal amount has been $50 with a standard
deviation of $40. Since audit investigations are typically expensive, the auditors
decide to not initiate further investigations if the mean transaction amount of the
sample is between $45 and $55. What is the probability that in any given week, there
will be an investigation?

A. 1.25%
B. 2.5%
C. 10.55%
D. 21.1%
E. 50%

13. The auditors from the above example would like to maintain the probability of
investigation to 5%. Which of the following represents the minimum number
transactions that they should sample if they do not want to change the thresholds of
45 and 55? Assume that the sample statistics remain unchanged.

A. 144
B. 150
C. 196
D. 250
E. Not enough information

14. An educational startup that helps MBA aspirants write their essays is targeting
individuals who have taken GMAT in 2012 and have expressed interest in
applying to FT top 20 b-schools. There are 40000 such individuals with an
average GMAT score of 720 and a standard deviation of 120. The scores are
distributed between 650 and 790 with a very long and thin tail towards the
higher end resulting in substantial skewness. Which of the following is likely to
be true for randomly chosen samples of aspirants?

A. The standard deviation of the scores within any sample will be 120.
B. The standard deviation of the mean of across several samples will be 120.
C. The mean score in any sample will be 720.
D. The average of the mean across several samples will be 720.
E. The standard deviation of the mean across several samples will be 0.60