University of the West Indies

Department of Economics
ECON1005 - Introductory Statistics

Problem Set 1: Introduction to Basic Data Collection & Graphical Methods

Tutorial Questions

1. An online retail company would like to increase its sales revenue. To do this they go to a popular
shopping area and ask 250 persons “What is the number one reason you go back to an online site
to make a purchase?” (note respondents can only give one answer)

a) What is the population for this study?

b) What is the sample for this study?

c) What sampling method was used to select the respondents for this study?

d) Is this study using primary or secondary data?

e) What type of variable (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio) is the variable being studied (i.e. reason to back
to a website to make a purchase)?

2. Match each of the following with the SINGLE choice that best describes the given situation. Each
answer choice may be used once, more than once, or not at all.

A. Simple random sample B. Stratified random sample C. Multistage random sample

D. Voluntary response E. Cluster sample

a) A company would like to determine the average commute to work for their employees. They obtain a
list of all 500 employees and sorted them according to their assigned department. They then select 3
departments and then interview 10 persons within those selected departments.

b) A company would like to determine the average commute to work for their employees. They obtain a
list of all 500 employees and sorted them according to classification (e.g. entry level, intermediate
level, middle management, senior management). They then interview 10 persons from each
classification.

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 c) A company would like to determine the average commute to work for their employees. They obtain a
list of all 500 employees and select 80 from that list.
d) A company would like to determine the average commute to work for their employees. They obtain a
list of all 500 employees and sorted them according to their assigned department. They then select 3
departments and interview all persons within those selected departments.

e) A company would like to determine the average commute to work for their employees. They obtain a
list of all 500 employees. They decide to leave questionnaires in the lunch room with a sign asking
persons to participate.

3. Determine whether the following situations refer to a parameter or a statistic.

a) A company would like to determine the average commute to work for their employees. They obtain a
list of all 500 employees and select 80 from that list and obtain the average.

b) A lecturer would like to determine the average score for Midterm #1.

c) A production facility would like to determine whether the burn rate for the candles which they produce
is within the allowable limit. Note: to calculate the burn rate, the whole candle has to be destroyed.
They obtain an average burn rate of 0.01 mm/second.

4. Match each of the following with the SINGLE best choice that would be used in the given situation. Each
answer choice may be used once, more than once, or not at all.

A. Histogram B. Cumulative Ogive C. Bar Graph D. Pie Chart E. Stem & Leaf

a) An evaluator wants to determine how many the number of persons who own cars that are more than 10
years old (without having access to the raw data).

b) Distance in kilometres to school for 3000 students.

c) Membership in school organizations for 100 students. Note that students may belong to more than one
organization.

d) The age distribution of 50 students in ECON1005?

5. Figure 1 shows the cumulative results for an exam. Using the ogive in the figure determine:

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PROBLEM SET 1
 a) What type
of ogive is
this (less
than or
more than
cumulative
frequency
graph)?
How do
you know?

b) Using the
ogive,
determine
how many persons scored less than 50 points (explain how you got
your answer).

c) Using the ogive, determine how many persons scored more than 90
points (explain how you got your answer).

Extra Questions

1. Match each of the following with the SINGLE best choice that would be used in the given situation. Each
answer choice may be used once, more than once, or not at all.

A. Histogram B. Cumulative Ogive C. Bar Graph D. Pie Chart

a) The distribution of income in a large company.

b) To determine the percentage of persons who earn less than $100,000 per month in a large company.

c) The percentage of persons who voted for a specific candidate in Guild elections.

d) The distribution of where students on campus buy lunch. Students select all applicable restaurants.

2. Match each of the following with the SINGLE choice that best describes the given situation. Each answer
choice may be used once, more than once, or not at all.

A. Nominal B. Ordinal C. Interval D. Ratio

a) Number of siblings.

b) Favourite colour.

c) Socioeconomic status.

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 d) Type of living accommodation (house, apartment, etc.).

3. A research group is interested in estimating the average per capita income in a certain city. They mark of
the city into 100 rectangular blocks. Data is then collected from 20 randomly chosen household in
randomly selected blocks. Along with the number of members in each household, data was collected on
the combined income of all members in that household.

a) What is the population for this study?

b) What is the sample for this study?

c) What sampling method was used to select the respondents for this study?

d) The research group wanted to compare this information to another city (City #2) in the same country.
The same information was obtained from City #2 from another research group. Is the information for
this comparison city considered primary or secondary data?

e) If information was also collected on level of education of the head of household, what type of variable
(nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio) is this?

The following questions are from Introductory Statistics by Mann, 8 th edition

Chapter Question Page #

1.7 8

1.11 9

1 1.15
12
1.17

4 21

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