Homework 2

Instructions

  1. Download a printable version of this assignment here. Print it out and record your answers directly in the space provided.
  2. Write your name and student number on the top of the assignment.
  3. For problems requiring additional written work, use the allotted work space and/or margins of the page.
  4. Once you’re done with a problem, reflect on how you well-equipped you felt answering that particular problem using the confidence level assessment shown below.

I knew the answer to that question

I’m not sure whether I got this question correct

I don’t know the answer for this question
  1. Turn in your assignment in class on the due date.

Questions

Question 1

The following table provides chart data for the patients in a particular hospital ward:


Patient Room Physician Condition Length of stay
Carter, M. 202 Pollock Critical 8 days
Levin, J. 203 McClare Fair 4 days
Fox, J. 203 Lench Good 5 days
Garcia, L. 205 Lench Fair 7 days
Arluke, A. 201 Pollock Serious 2 days
Parodi, A. 203 McClare Good 9 days
Stark, D. 204 Lench Fair 5 days
Chow, F. 202 Pollock Critical 1 day
McDevitt, J. 204 Loftus Serious 2 days


Name and calculate the most appropriate measure of central tendency and variability for each of the following variables. Feel free to provide a justification for your choice of measure as you see fit.


Room number

Measure of central tendency: _____________________________________

Measure of variability: ____________________________________________

Physician

Measure of central tendency: _____________________________________

Measure of variability: ____________________________________________

Patient condition

Measure of central tendency: _____________________________________

Measure of variability: ____________________________________________

Length of hospital stay

Measure of central tendency: _____________________________________

Measure of variability: ____________________________________________

Question 2

A researcher collected information on the number of text messages sent over an 8-hour period by a group of teenagers and a group of parents. The data collected are as follows:

TEENAGERS
Case # Number of Texts
1 4
2 27
3 10
4 8
5 5
6 4
7 11
8 7
9 9
10 5
PARENTS
Case # Number of Texts
1 0
2 6
3 5
4 2
5 9
6 10
7 7
8 9
9 6


  1. Find the mode, median, mean, range, and standard deviation for the number of texts sent by each group (teenagers and parents).

TEENAGERS

MEAN ____________________

MEDIAN ____________________

MODE ____________________

RANGE ____________________

STANDARD
DEVIATION ____________________

PARENTS

MEAN ____________________

MEDIAN ____________________

MODE ____________________

RANGE ____________________

STANDARD
DEVIATION ____________________


  1. Which group – teenagers or parents – tended to send more texts? Support your answer using statistics you calculated for Part a. [Choose the most useful statistics for making your case].

Answer:


  1. Which group – teenagers or parents – had the greatest diversity in the number of texts sent? Support your answer using statistics you calculated for Part a. [Choose the most useful statistics for making your case].

Answer:


  1. What do your calculations indicate about the shape (symmetrical, negatively/left skewed, or positively/right skewed) of the distributions for the two groups?

Answer:


  1. If you removed the most extreme case (the person with the most text messages) from each of the distributions, would your answers to Parts b and c change?

Answer:

Question 3

A teacher asked a sample of 18 junior high school students how many hours of television they watched during the previous weekend. The results of the survey are summarized in the following frequency distribution.


Hours of TV Frequency
5 3
4 5
3 6
2 2
1 2
0 0


Calculate the following statistics to describe these data:


MEAN ____________________

MEDIAN ____________________

MODE ____________________

RANGE ____________________

STANDARD DEVIATION ____________________