COMM121: Statistics for Business Tutorial 1

Q1. For each of the following variables, determine its type and the level of measurement scale and give
your reasoning.

a) Three different types of drinks are sold at a fast-food restaurant - soft drinks, fruit juices and
coffee.

Categorical & nominal. The types of drinks are for classification only and there is no
natural order.

b) Soft drinks are sold in three sizes in a fast-food restaurant - small, medium and large.

Categorical & ordinal. The types of drinks are for classification only and there is a natural
order.

c) The time it takes to download an MP3 file from the Internet

Numerical, continuous & ratio. The time taken to download a file is a measured
characteristic and the measurement has a true zero point.

Q2. For each of the following variables, determine whether the variable is categorical or numerical. If the
variable is numerical, determine whether the variable is discrete or continuous. In addition, determine
the level of measurement.
a. Number of telephones per household - numerical, discrete, ratio scale.

b. Length (in minutes) of the longest long-distance call made per month - numerical, continuous,
ratio scale.

c. Whether there is a telephone line connected to a computer modem in the household -

categorical, nominal scale.

d. Whether there is a fax machine in the household - categorical, nominal scale.

e. The education level of the head of the household – categorical, ordinal scale.

Q3. One of the variables most often included in surveys is income. Sometimes the question is phrased
'What is your income (in thousands of dollars)?' In other surveys, the respondent is asked to 'Place an
X in the circle corresponding to your income group' and given a number of ranges to choose from.
a. Determine the variable type and level of measurement scale for the first and second format
respectively.

First format: Numerical, continuous, ratio.

Second format: Categorical, ordinal.

b. Which of these two formats would you prefer to use if you were conducting a survey? Why?

The first format is preferred because the responses represent data measured on a higher
scale. It enables the researcher to use different statistics when analyzing the data.

c. Which of these two formats would probably bring you a greater rate of response? Why?

The second format is less threatening to a respondent and likely leads to a greater
response rate.

Q4. The director of market research at a large department store chain wants to conduct a survey
throughout Singapore to determine the amount of time working women spend shopping for clothing in
a typical month.

This study source was downloaded by 100000828445566 from CourseHero.com on 02-07-2022 05:37:18 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/8714829/Tutorial-1-Soutions/
 a. Define the population of interest, and indicate the type of data the director might wish to collect.

The population is ‘all working women Singapore’. The director might wish to collect both
numerical and categorical data.

b. Develop a first draft of the questionnaire needed in (a) by writing a series of three categorical
questions and three numerical questions that you feel would be appropriate for this survey.

Three categorical questions might be occupation, marital status, type of clothing last
purchased.
Numerical questions might be age, average monthly hours shopping for clothing,
income.

Q5. According to Road Patrol, the magazine of the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) of Western Australia the
LiveSafe Survey reveals that nearly 80% of seniors feel that crime is increasing in WA, compared with
40% of students (Road Patrol, Royal Automobile Club of WA, October/November 2005).
More than 1,300 students and seniors took part in the survey during RAC Community Education
presentations. More than 25,000 students and seniors across WA participate in these presentations
each year.
a. Describe the population for the RAC survey.
b. Describe the sample for the RAC survey.
c. Seventy-five per cent of students surveyed said they felt safe in their homes at night. Is this a
parameter or a statistic?

(a) All seniors and students who took part in RAC Community Education presentations
during the year.
(b) More than 1,300 of the seniors and students who took part in the RAC Community
Education presentations during the year.
(c) Statistic.

Q6. A categorical variable has three categories with the following frequency of occurrence:

Category Frequency
A 13
B 28
C 9

a. Calculate the percentage of values in each category. A(26%), B(56%), C(18%).

b. Construct a bar chart.
c. Construct a pie chart.

Q7. The Living in Australia study gives the following data on the employment status of students studying
for a post-school qualification.

This study source was downloaded by 100000828445566 from CourseHero.com on 02-07-2022 05:37:18 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/8714829/Tutorial-1-Soutions/
 Percentage of students enrolled in post-school education
Employment status All students
Employed part-time 30.3%
Employed full-time 44.1%
Not employed 25.6%
All students 100.0%

a. For the data construct a bar chart and a pie chart.

b. Which graphical method do you think best portrays these data?
c. What conclusions can you draw about the employment status of students?

(b) A pie chart or a bar chart could be used. However, if the number of categories is more
than 5, bar chart is preferred.

(c) The majority of students are employed either full or part-time with only approximately
25% not employed.

Q8. Form an ordered array given the following data from a sample of n = 7 mid-semester exam scores in
accounting:

68 94 63 75 71 88 64

Ordered array: 63 64 68 71 75 88 94

Q9. Form a stem-and-leaf display given the following data from a sample of n = 7 mid-semester exam
scores in finance:

80 54 69 98 93 53 74

Stem-and-leaf of Finance Scores—stem unit 10, leaf unit 1

Stem Leaf
5 34
6 9
7 4
8 0
9 38

Q10. Some fast-food chains are offering healthier lower-fat options on their menu. The following data
represent the total fat in grams for some of these healthier choices as well as some traditional items
for comparison from a sample of fast-food chains.

Rolls and lean burgers

34.6 19.6 8.1 9.5 23.2 21.4 21.2 7.0 22.5 14.8 8.1
8.2 8.8 10.4 5.4 5.0 4.7 5.1 5.1 5.6 5.4 3.7

Salads
21.3 27.9 15.8 3.9 6.7

Traditional items

This study source was downloaded by 100000828445566 from CourseHero.com on 02-07-2022 05:37:18 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/8714829/Tutorial-1-Soutions/
 19.8 20.8 21.2 24.9 39.3 65.1

For each category:

a. Display the data in ordered arrays.
b. Construct stem-and-leaf displays for the data.
c. Which arrangement provides more information? Discuss.
d. Compare the items in terms of total fat. What conclusions can you make?

a)
Rolls and Lean Burgers
3.7 4.7 5.0 5.1 5.1 5.4 5.4 5.6 7.0 8.1 8.1 8.2 8.8 9.5 10.4 14.8 19.6 21.2 21.4 22.5 23.2 34.6
Salads
3.9 6.7 15.8 21.3 27.9
Traditional Items
19.8 20.8 21.2 24.9 39.3 65.1

b)
Rolls and Lean Burgers
Stem unit: Fat 10g Leaf unit: Fat 1g
Stem Leaf
0 4555555678889
1 005
2 01133
3 5

Salads
Stem unit: Fat 10g Leaf unit: Fat 1g
Stem Leaf
0 47
1 6
2 18

Traditional Items
Stem unit: Fat 10g Leaf unit: Fat 1g
Stem Leaf
2 0115
3 9
4
5
6 5

(c) The stem-and-leaf display provides more information, as it shows the distribution of the data as
well as the order.

(d) Overall, the rolls, lean burgers and salads appear to have less fat than the traditional items.

Q11. The values for a set of data vary from 11.6 to 97.8.
a. If these values are grouped into nine classes, indicate appropriate class boundaries.
b. What class-interval width did you choose?
c. What are the corresponding class mid-points?

(a) The class boundaries of the 9 classes can be ‘10 to less than 20’, ‘20 to less than 30’, ‘30
to less than 40’, ‘40 to less than 50’, ‘50 to less than 60’, ‘60 to less than 70’, ‘70 to less
than 80’, ‘80 to less than 90’, and ‘90 to less than 100’.

(b) The class-interval width is (97.8 –11.6)/9 = 9.58 = 10. The class-interval width chosen is
10.

(c) The nine class midpoints are: 15, 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, 75, 85, and 95.

This study source was downloaded by 100000828445566 from CourseHero.com on 02-07-2022 05:37:18 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/8714829/Tutorial-1-Soutions/
 Q12. The cumulative percentage polygon(ogive) below shows the amount spent in $ by 200 customers at a
local supermarket.

a. Approximately what percentage of customers spent less than $100?

b. Approximately how many customers spent at least $60?
c. Approximately how much did the top 10% of customers spend?
d. Approximately what was the maximum that the bottom 10% of customers spent?

(a) 60% of customers spent less than $100.

(b) 160 (0.8 x 200) customers spent at least $60.
(c) The top 10% of customers spent between $140 and $200.
(d) The bottom 10% of customers spent at most $40.

Q13. Comment on the following graph.

Problems with graph:

• Scale on horizontal axis is not consistent
• Horizontal axis in year not in numerical order
• Vertical axis does not start at zero
• Three variables (temperature, number of pirates and year) are incorrectly presented
on a two dimensional graph
• At first glance graph shows a positive relationship between number of pirates and
temperature, but as horizontal axis gives number of pirates in, mainly, descending order the
relationship is negative.

Q14. The following three time-series plots show Perth's monthly average petrol prices from January 2000 to
June 2008.

This study source was downloaded by 100000828445566 from CourseHero.com on 02-07-2022 05:37:18 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/8714829/Tutorial-1-Soutions/
 Which graph do you think best represents the data and why?

Graph (a) probably represents the data best as the vertical scale starts at zero. However as
petrol prices usually differ only by a few cents (b) may be useful in some applications if you
wish to show the variability of the prices. In this case would need to clearly indicate that the
vertical axis does not start at zero. Graph (c) shows a very flat graph, as the vertical scale
extends to 300, this is misleading as it does not represent the variation in the prices.

This study source was downloaded by 100000828445566 from CourseHero.com on 02-07-2022 05:37:18 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/8714829/Tutorial-1-Soutions/
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)