Geography 300

Answer 1

1.

Who does the author credit with the invention (1786) of many of the common statistical graphs still in use today?

a.

Playfair

b.

Darwin

c.

Nightingale

d.

Tukey

Answer 2

2.

Which of these is NOT a descriptive statistic?

a.

mean

b.

median

c.

correlation

d.

standard deviation

3.

Which of these does the author NOT list as an exception to the rule that states "it is better to record exact measurements when collecting data"

a.

When the data ONLY comes in categorical (nominal) form

b.

When the statistical measure you are using calls for categorical data.

c.

When there is a response bias in the data collection that makes precise data actually less accurate (as in the case where people are asked to report their age).

d.

When lots of categorical data is better than less precise data.

4.

The author suggests that when you have too much data to easily make sense of, it is best to do a:

a.

data reduction plan

b.

resampling of your data

c.

reclassification analysis

d.

exploratory data analysis

5.

In the summary table presented on page 319 of your text, which of the descriptive statisitcs might suggest that the minimum pollution concentration might be regularly exceeded in stream C?

a.

mean

b.

standard deviation

c.

n

d.

none of these indicate that possibility.

6

One of the reasons you would want to perhaps make a histogram of a set of data is that you have collect is to check to see if:

a.

the data disproves the null hypothesis

b.

to make sure that the data has enough sample points

c.

to see if your data has a high enough correlation coefficient.

d.

to see what sort of probability distribution your data resembles

7.

Which of these pairs of terms does not have a synonomous relationship?

a.

y variable = response variable

b.

x variable = explanatory variable

c.

dependent variable = abcissa

d.

y variable = dependent variable

8

Which of these graphic devices does the author claim to be by far the most useful for those trying to analyze/display a causal relationship between two variables?

a.

histogram

b.

scatterplot

c.

standard deviation plot

d.

boxplot

9.

Which of the two graphs on page 335 is using a logarithmic scale?

a.

19.12 a

b.

19.12 b

c.

0

d.

0

10.

What is an outlier in statistical terms?

a.

a data point that is exactly 1 standard deviation from the average

b.

a data that is equal to the mean and median at the same time

c.

a data point that is more than 1 standard deviation beyond the average (mean)

d.

a data point that is significantly different from the others in your sample, perhaps qualitatively different.