WGU C207: Descriptive vs. Inferential
Statistics Practice Quiz(Descriptive vs
Inferential Statistics) 100% correct!
Question 1
A regional manager calculates the mean and standard deviation of delivery times for every
shipment sent from the warehouse during the previous quarter. What type of statistical analysis
is being performed?
● A. Descriptive statistics
● B. Inferential statistics
● C. Predictive analytics
● D. Qualitative analysis
Answer: A. Descriptive statistics Rationale: Descriptive statistics involve organizing and
summarizing data from a complete set (in this case, "every shipment") to describe what has
happened in the past.
Question 2
A political analyst surveys 1,000 likely voters to estimate the proportion of the entire national
population that supports a new policy. The analyst provides a $95\%$ confidence interval. This
is an example of:
● A. Descriptive statistics
● B. Inferential statistics
● C. Data mining
● D. Census reporting
Answer: B. Inferential statistics Rationale: Inferential statistics use a sample (1,000 voters) to
make generalizations or estimates about a larger population, often involving confidence
intervals or hypothesis testing.
Question 3
Which of the following is a population parameter rather than a sample statistic?
● A. $\bar{x}$ (sample mean)
● B. $s$ (sample standard deviation)
● C. $\mu$ (population mean)
, ● D. $\hat{p}$ (sample proportion)
Answer: C. $\mu$ (population mean) Rationale: Parameters (denoted by Greek letters like
$\mu$ and $\sigma$) describe characteristics of an entire population, while statistics (Latin
letters like $\bar{x}$ and $s$) describe samples.
Question 4
An HR department wants to determine if a new training program significantly increases
productivity. They compare the average scores of a test group to the company average using a
$p$-value. This involves:
● A. Descriptive statistics
● B. Inferential statistics
● C. Qualitative research
● D. Data visualization
Answer: B. Inferential statistics Rationale: Using $p$-values to determine if a result is
"statistically significant" is a core component of hypothesis testing, which falls under inferential
statistics.
Question 5
A business analyst creates a frequency distribution and a histogram to visualize the distribution
of customer ages. These tools belong to which branch?
● A. Descriptive statistics
● B. Inferential statistics
● C. Diagnostic analytics
● D. Prescriptive analytics
Answer: A. Descriptive statistics Rationale: Frequency distributions and histograms are used
to summarize and visualize the features of an existing dataset, which is the goal of descriptive
statistics.
Question 6
A researcher notes that the sample mean for a study is $\bar{x} = 52$, while the true population
mean is $\mu = 50$. The difference of $2$ is known as:
● A. Non-sampling error
● B. Sampling error
● C. Descriptive variance
● D. Bias
Statistics Practice Quiz(Descriptive vs
Inferential Statistics) 100% correct!
Question 1
A regional manager calculates the mean and standard deviation of delivery times for every
shipment sent from the warehouse during the previous quarter. What type of statistical analysis
is being performed?
● A. Descriptive statistics
● B. Inferential statistics
● C. Predictive analytics
● D. Qualitative analysis
Answer: A. Descriptive statistics Rationale: Descriptive statistics involve organizing and
summarizing data from a complete set (in this case, "every shipment") to describe what has
happened in the past.
Question 2
A political analyst surveys 1,000 likely voters to estimate the proportion of the entire national
population that supports a new policy. The analyst provides a $95\%$ confidence interval. This
is an example of:
● A. Descriptive statistics
● B. Inferential statistics
● C. Data mining
● D. Census reporting
Answer: B. Inferential statistics Rationale: Inferential statistics use a sample (1,000 voters) to
make generalizations or estimates about a larger population, often involving confidence
intervals or hypothesis testing.
Question 3
Which of the following is a population parameter rather than a sample statistic?
● A. $\bar{x}$ (sample mean)
● B. $s$ (sample standard deviation)
● C. $\mu$ (population mean)
, ● D. $\hat{p}$ (sample proportion)
Answer: C. $\mu$ (population mean) Rationale: Parameters (denoted by Greek letters like
$\mu$ and $\sigma$) describe characteristics of an entire population, while statistics (Latin
letters like $\bar{x}$ and $s$) describe samples.
Question 4
An HR department wants to determine if a new training program significantly increases
productivity. They compare the average scores of a test group to the company average using a
$p$-value. This involves:
● A. Descriptive statistics
● B. Inferential statistics
● C. Qualitative research
● D. Data visualization
Answer: B. Inferential statistics Rationale: Using $p$-values to determine if a result is
"statistically significant" is a core component of hypothesis testing, which falls under inferential
statistics.
Question 5
A business analyst creates a frequency distribution and a histogram to visualize the distribution
of customer ages. These tools belong to which branch?
● A. Descriptive statistics
● B. Inferential statistics
● C. Diagnostic analytics
● D. Prescriptive analytics
Answer: A. Descriptive statistics Rationale: Frequency distributions and histograms are used
to summarize and visualize the features of an existing dataset, which is the goal of descriptive
statistics.
Question 6
A researcher notes that the sample mean for a study is $\bar{x} = 52$, while the true population
mean is $\mu = 50$. The difference of $2$ is known as:
● A. Non-sampling error
● B. Sampling error
● C. Descriptive variance
● D. Bias
