National University of Lesotho Department of Statistics and Demography Tutorial 1 St1381: Elementary Statistics

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LESOTHO
DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS AND DEMOGRAPHY

TUTORIAL 1
ST1381: ELEMENTARY STATISTICS
1. A survey of 100 people is conducted and all are asked questions relating to the
following characteristics:
a) Marital Status
b) Salary
c) Occupation
d) Number of hours of television they watch per week.
What type of data and measurement are they?
2. Classify each as nominal level, ordinal level, interval level, or ratio level of
measurement.
a) Number of candy bars sold on a fund drive.
b) Classification of automobiles as subcompact, compact, standard, and luxury.
c) Temperatures of hair dryers.
d) Weights of suitcases on a commercial airliner.
3. Classify each variable as qualitative or quantitative.

a) Marital status of nurses in a hospital.
b) Time it takes to run a marathon.
c) Weights of lobsters in a tank in a restaurant.
d) Colours of automobiles in a shopping centre parking lot.
e) Capacity of the NFL football stadiums.
f) Ages of people living in a personal care home.
4. Classify each variable as discrete or continuous.

a) Number of pizzas sold by Pizza Express each day.
b) Relative humidity levels in operating rooms at local hospitals.
c) Number of bananas in a bunch at several local supermarkets.
d) Lifetimes (in hours) of 15 iPod batteries.
e) Weights of the backpacks of first graders on a school bus.
f) Number of students each day who make appointments with a math tutor at a
local college.
g) Blood pressures of runners in a marathon.
5. Say whether each of the following variables is qualitative or quantitative and if

quantitative say whether is discrete or continuous.
a) Age of a respondent to a consumer survey.

b) Sex of a respondent to a consumer survey.
c) Make of motor car owned by a sample of 50 drivers.
d) Percentage of people in favour of the death penalty in each of the districts.
e) The amount by which a 1kg package of beef mince decreases in weight because
of moisture lost before purchase.
6. Here are the numbers of complete games thrown in the American league and the
national league for the years 1997 through 1999. (A complete game is a game for
which the team’s starting pitcher is the only pitcher, he pitches the entire game).
League 1997 1998 1999

American 123 141 108
National 143 161 127
Determine whether the following statements are descriptive or inferential. Explain the
reasoning behind your choice.
a) During each of these three seasons, there were at least 120 complete in the
national league.
b) There will always be at least 120 complete games in a season in the national
league.
c) In the season of 2014, there will be more complete games in the National League
than the American league.
d) During these three seasons, the American league had fewer complete games than
the national league.
e) The National league has more complete games because the hitters in their league
are not as good as the hitters in the American league.
f) The American league has fewer complete games because its relief pitchers are
superior to the National league’s relief pitchers.
7. Here are the numbers of homicide arrests of juveniles aged 18 and under in the
United States for the years 1993 through 1999.
Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Arrests 3284 3102 2560 2172 1731 1622 1311
Determine whether the following statements are descriptive or inferential. Explain

the reasoning behind your choice.
a) The number of homicide arrests of juveniles declined each year.
b) A government program is responsible for the decline in the arrests.
c) The number of homicide arrests of juveniles in 1992 was higher than 3284.
d) The average number of homicide arrests of juveniles is above 2500.
e) The number of homicide arrests of juveniles will be lower than 1311 in 2014.
8. The leader of a rural community is interested in the proportion of property owners

who support the construction of a sewer system. Because it is too difficult to reach
all 7000 property owners a survey of 500 owners, selected at random, is
undertaken.
a) Describe the population and sample for this problem.
b) Define the variable of interest and type of data that will be needed.
9. The student council at a university with 10 000 students is interested in the
proportion of students who favour a change in the grading system. Two hundred
students are interviewed to determine their attitude towards this proposed change.
a) What is the population of interest?
b) What group of students constitutes the sample in this problem?
10. A random sample of 200 academic staff members was taken at a university. Each
was asked the following questions:
a) What is your rank (Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Professor)?
b) What is your annual salary?
c) In which faculty (Business, Engineering, Arts) are you employed?
d) How many years have you been employed?
Identify the type of data as quantitative or qualitative. If quantitative, classify it as
either discrete or continuous. Indicate the measurement scale in each category.
11. Classify each sample as random, systematic, stratified, or cluster.

a) In a large school district, all teachers from two buildings are interviewed to
determine whether they believe the students have less homework to do now
than in previous years.
b) Every seventh customer entering a shopping mall is asked to select her or his
favourite store.
c) Nursing supervisors are selected using random numbers to determine annual
salaries.
d) Every 100th hamburger manufactured is checked to determine its fat content.
e) Mail carriers of a large city are divided into four groups according to gender
(male or female) and according to whether they walk or ride on their routes.
Then 10 are selected from each group and interviewed to determine whether
they have been bitten by a dog in the last year.
12. Would a census or a sample be used to investigate the:

a) The length of time an electric light globe will last?
b) The causes of car accidents in Lesotho?
c) The number of people who use Colgate toothpaste?
d) The gender of school principals?
e) Countries of origin of immigrants?
f) Health of patients after being given medication?
g) The number of people who die from cancer each year?
13. Suggest the possible bias in each of the following samples:

a) A phone survey during the day
b) A survey of people in a taxi rank
c) A survey of football crowd
14. The numbers of students in each year at school are shown in the table. In a stratified
random sample, based on a year groups, what proportion of students should be
chosen from each year?
Year 7 8 9 10 11 12 Total
Number of students 122 131 135 120 94 81 683
15. A school of 859 students is made up as follows.
Year 7 8 9 10 11 12
Number of students 125 142 175 160 134 123
a) If a stratified random sample is to be taken based on these subgroups (school

years), what proportion should be chosen from each year?
b) How many students should be chosen from each year if we want a stratified
random sample of 60 students?
c) Explain how to obtain this sample.
16. Imagine that a local clothing manufacturer has 2,700 employees. The personnel
manager decides to ask the employees for suggestions on how to improve their
workplace. It would take too long to survey everyone, so the manager chooses to
systematically sample 300 of the employees.
a) What would be the sampling interval?
b) If the number 8 was your first randomly drawn number, what would be the first
20 numbers of your sample?
17. A machine produces 300 items per day. At what intervals should we select a
systematic sample of :
a) 25 items, 50 items, 10, items and 15 items.
b) Explain how to obtain a systematic sample of 50 items.

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NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LESOTHO

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS AND DEMOGRAPHY

3. Classify each variable as qualitative or quantitative.

4. Classify each variable as discrete or continuous.

5. Say whether each of the following variables is qualitative or quantitative and if

a) Age of a respondent to a consumer survey.

League 1997 1998 1999

Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Determine whether the following statements are descriptive or inferential. Explain

8. The leader of a rural community is interested in the proportion of property owners

11. Classify each sample as random, systematic, stratified, or cluster.

12. Would a census or a sample be used to investigate the:

13. Suggest the possible bias in each of the following samples:

a) If a stratified random sample is to be taken based on these subgroups (school

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