1. A company has developed a new smartphone whose average lifetime is unknown. In
order to estimate this average, 200 smartphones are randomly selected from a large
production line and tested; their average lifetime is found to be 5 years. The 200
smartphones represent a .
a. parameter
b. statistic
c. sample
d. population
2. Which of the following is a measure of the reliability of a statistical inference?
a. A population parameter
b. A significance level
c. A descriptive statistic
d. A sample statistic
3. The process of using sample statistics to draw conclusions about population parameters
is called .
a. finding the significance level
b. calculating descriptive statistics
c. doing inferential statistics
d. calculating the confidence level
4. Which of the following statements involve descriptive statistics as opposed to inferential
statistics?
a. The Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Department reported that Houston had 1,791
registered gun dealers in 1997.
b. Based on a survey of 400 magazine readers, the magazine reports that 45% of its
readers prefer double column articles.
c. The FAA samples 500 traffic controllers in order to estimate the percent retiring
due to job stress related illness.
d. Based on a sample of 300 professional tennis players, a tennis magazine reported
that 25% of the parents of all professional tennis players did not play tennis.
5. A population of all college applicants exists who have taken the SAT exam in the
United States in the last year. A parameter of the population are .
a. students who completed the SAT exam
b. college applicants
c. U.S. college applicants in the last
year d. SAT scores
6. Which of the following statements is true regarding the design of a good survey?
a. The questions should be made as long as possible
b. A mixture of dichotomous, multiple-choice, and open-ended questions may not
be used
c. Leading questions must be used
d. The questions should be kept as short as possible
, 7. Which method of data collection is involved when a researcher counts and records the
number of students wearing backpacks on campus on a given day?
a. An experiment