Chapter 1: Introduction to Statistics

Question 1

statistics

Answer 1

• the science of gathering, describing, and analyzing data
• the actual numerical descriptions of sample data

Question 2

population

Answer 2

a particular group of interest

Question 3

variable

Answer 3

a value or characteristic that changes among members of the population

Question 4

data

Answer 4

counts, measurements, or observations gathered about a specific variable in a population in order to study it

Question 5

census

Answer 5

a study in which data are obtained from every member of the population

Question 6

parameter

Answer 6

a numerical description of a population characteristic.

Question 7

sample

Answer 7

a subset of the population from which data are collected.

Question 8

sample statistics

Answer 8

numerical descriptions of sample characteristics

Question 9

descriptive statistics

Answer 9

gathers, sorts, summarizes, and displays the data

Question 10

inferential statistics

Answer 10

involves using descriptive statistics to estimate population parameters

Question 11

qualitative data

Answer 11

labels or descriptions of traits (qualities)

Question 12

quantitative data

Answer 12

counts and measurements (quantities)

Question 13

continuous data

Answer 13

quantitative data that can take on any value in a given interval and are usually measurements (height, length, etc.)

Question 14

discrete data

Answer 14

quantitative data that can take on only particular values and are usually counts (number of people, etc.)

Question 15

nominal level

Answer 15

• uses qualitative data consisting of labels or names with no natural order
• colors of cars, names of people, etc.
• calculations not possible

Question 16

ordinal level

Answer 16

• qualitative data that can be arranged in a meaningful order
• rankings of popular ice cream flavors, sports teams, etc.
• calculations such as addition or division do not make sense

Question 17

interval level

Answer 17

• quantitative data that can be arranged in a meaningful order, and differences between data entries are meaningful; zero is a position on a scale, not the absence of something
• temperatures besides Kelvin, birth years, etc.
• adding and subtracting make sense here

Question 18

ratio level

Answer 18

• quantitative data that can be ordered, differences between data entries are meaningful, and the zero point indicates the absence of something
• one cost is twice as much as another, etc.; Kelvin fits here
• adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing possible

Question 19

What two things do we use to decide what level of measurement the data are in?

Answer 19

whether they have a natural order (qualitative)

whether zero is meaningful (quantitative)