Lesson 1: Gathering Data

Lee Bailey

Lab Assignment

Answer the following questions showing all work. If you use Minitab
Express include the appropriate output (copy + paste) along with an
explanation. Round all answers to 3 decimal places. If you have any
questions, post them to the discussion board. You may work
together and discuss questions on the lab assignments.
1. There are 7,242 Penn State World Campus undergraduate
students. An academic advisor wants to estimate the proportion of
all Penn State World Campus undergraduate students who work fulltime. It would take him too much time to contact all 7,242 students,
so he uses Minitab Express to take a simple random sample of 50 of
those students. He calls those 50 students and asks each if they are
working full-time. (20 points)
A. Identify the sample and population.
The 50 students
B. Was his sample representative of the population? Why or
why not?
No. There is selection bias, both non-responsive and responsive.
Someone who is not currently working full time might refuse to answer
the question based on a feeling of inadequacy. Also, because there is
no way to verify whether the participants are working full time or not,
the participant might give an answer that he/she thinks the advisor
wants to hear.
C. Is it an observational or experimental study? Why?
This is an observational study. There is no manipulation of any
treatment.
D. Of the 50 students who were contacted, 80% (in other
words .80) said that they were working full-time. Compute the
conservative confidence interval for the proportion of all World
Campus undergraduate students who are working full-time.
Sample size (n) =50 Margin of Error (1/(sqrt 50)) = 14.1%
Conservative Confidence Interval = [65.9%, 94.1%]
2. A group of culinary arts students conducted a study to explore the
impact of vision on food preferences. Their sample consisted of 18
students in an introductory cooking class. Each participant signed up
for one data collection session. There was a morning session, (89AM) and an evening session (8-9PM). An equal number of
participants signed up for each session. Both sessions received the
same food. For the morning sessions, participants were blindfolded
so they couldnt see what they were being served. For the evening
session participants were not blindfolded and could see what they
were being served. Participants rated the taste of the food. The
morning session gave higher ratings for taste, so the researchers
concluded that being blindfolded makes food taste better. (20
points)
A. Is it an observational or experimental study? Why?
Experimental study. The students are introducing a variable that they
control.

Lesson 1: Gathering Data

Lee Bailey

Lab Assignment

B. What sampling method was employed?

Volunteer sampling
C. What are the explanatory and response variables in this
scenario?
Explanatory: The blindfolds, Response: Taste rating
D. Which group was the control group?
The evening session
3. A team of researchers wanted to know if students who get at least
7 hours of sleep each night tend to have higher GPAs. They took a
simple random sample of 900 Penn State students. They asked
students in the sample whether they get at least 7 hours of sleep
each night and they asked for their GPA. (20 points)
A. Is this an observational or experimental study? Why?
Observational study. The researchers are simply collecting data from
the participants.
B. What are the explanatory and response variables in this
scenario?
Explanatory: Amount of sleep, Response: GPA
C. If the results show that students who get at least 7 hours of
sleep each night have higher GPAs can the researchers
conclude that getting more sleep causes students to have
higher GPAs?
No, there might be lurking variables unaccounted for.
D. What is one possible lurking variable in this scenario?
Explain why this is a lurking variable.
There are plenty of lurking variables: whether sleeping aids were used,
level of hydration, stress level, caffeine intake. All of these variables
affect the quality of sleep one can receive.
4. Suppose the office that does the Penn State Pulse surveys (these
surveys are done to get a pulse on what is happening with regards
to Penn State students) does a survey about the frequency of
academic cheating (and they have!). In the context of such a survey
about cheating, explain the difference between non-response bias
and response bias. (10 points)
Non-response Bias: The number of people who didnt respond for whatever
reason might not have answered the survey the same as those who did. A
person might not have responded due to not wishing to be punished for
cheating.
Response Bias: The number of people who responded in a more socially
acceptable way i.e. lying about cheating on the survey.
5. A group of college students wants to estimate the average annual
cost of tuition plus room and board at four-year colleges in the
United States. It would take them too long to look up the costs of
every college in the country (there are more than 2,000 of them!), so

Lesson 1: Gathering Data

Lee Bailey

Lab Assignment

they want to find a way to take a representative sample of 60

colleges to estimate the population mean. (15 points)
A. Describe how they could use a simple random sampling
method to obtain a sample of 60 colleges.
Assign all 2000 colleges a number from 1 to 2000. Then use a random
number generator to pull 60 numbers from that range.
B. Describe how they could use a stratified random sampling
method to obtain a sample of 60 colleges.
They could separate the colleges into subcategories. For example:
state colleges, Christian colleges, and for profit colleges. Then
randomly select 20 colleges from each subcategory, giving you 60
colleges.
C. Describe how they could use a cluster sampling method to
obtain a sample of 60 colleges.
Divide the country up into 50 states. Then randomly select 15 states
with a number generator. Take all of the colleges in that state until you
reach 60 colleges.
6. Open the file STATEPOPULATIONS.MTW. This contains a list of the
50 states and Washington, D.C. with their population sizes as of the
2010 US Census. (15 points)
A. Use Minitab Express to take a random sample of 5 states.
Include a screen shot of your results.
B. Use Minitab Express to take a second random sample of 5
states. Include a screen shot of your results.

Lesson 1: Gathering Data

Lee Bailey

Lab Assignment

C. Were your results the same both times? Why or why not?