BUQU 1230: Assignment 1 | Statistics and Data

BUQU 1230: Assignment # 1
Topic 1: Statistics and Data
1. Microsoft surveys 300 randomly selected computer users and asks them a series of questions.
Qualify each of the following types of analysis as either Inferential Statistics or Descriptive
Statistics.
A. They take their data and construct a pie chart showing what portion of their sample use
which operating system.
Answer: Descriptive Statistics
B. Using their sample data, they estimate what portion of the population is using the latest
version of the Windows operating system.
Answer: Inferential Statistics
C. They calculate the average number of minutes that each person in their sample spent on
their devices the previous day.
Answer: Descriptive Statistics
D. They assess whether, in the population as a whole, people are spending more than two
hours per day on their devices.
Answer: Inferential Statistics
2. The Microsoft survey asks the following questions. Classify the data each question gathers as
categorical or quantitative.
A. Do you own a laptop or notebook computer?
Answer: Categorical
B. How many minutes did you spend on your cell phone in the last 24 hours?
Answer: Quantitative
C. Do you own a tablet?
Answer: Categorical
D. How many e-mails did you send in the last 24 hours?
Answer: Quantitative
3. The Microsoft survey asks the following questions. Classify the data each question by its
scale of measurement. (e.g. Your choices are nominal, ordinal or ratio.)
A. Do you own a laptop or notebook computer?
Answer: Nominal
B. How many minutes did you spend on your cell phone in the last 24 hours?
Answer: Ratio
C. Do you own a tablet?
Answer: Nominal

D. How many e-mails did you send in the last 24 hours?
Answer: Ratio
E. Rank your satisfaction with your operating system: very satisfied, satisfied, neutral, a
bit dissatisfied, very dissatisfied.
Answer: Ordinal
Topic 2-3: Descriptive Statistics
You’ll find the relevant data sets in the assignment folder. Please note: there are two worksheets
contained in the Excel file “Assignment # 1.”
4. The worksheet “Transportation Costs” contains the amount (rounded to the nearest
dollar) that fifty, randomly selected, Kwantlen students spent on transportation on
September 22, 2017. Please do the following with this data.
A. Construct a stem and leaf diagram. (This should be done by hand in the space below
– not on Excel.) What does it tell you about the distribution of costs in this sample?
St
e
m
L
e
a
f
0 1 1 2 3 3 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 9
1 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 9
2 3 4 6 9 9
B. Using Excel, use the data to generate the following: an ordered array, a histogram, an
ogive (aka cumulative polygon), a frequency table, a percent frequency table, a
cumulative frequency table. Print your work out and attach it to your assignment.
C. Why isn’t it appropriate to use this data to do a pie chart or bar chart?