Chapter 3: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 16, 17, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 36, and 38

1) Graphs in the news. Find a bar chart of categorical data from a newspaper, a magazine, or
the Internet.
A. Is the graph clearly labeled?
B. Does it violate the area principle?
C. Does the accompanying article tell the Ws of the variable?
D. Do you think the article correctly interprets the data? Explain.

3) Tables in the news. Find a frequency table of categorical data from a newspaper, a
magazine, or the Internet.
A. Is it clearly labeled?
B. Does it display percentages or counts?
C. Does the accompanying article tell the Ws of the variable?
D. Do you think the article correctly interprets the data? Explain.

5) The pie chart summarizes the genres of 120 first-run movies released in 2005.

A. Is this an appropriate display for the genres? Why/why not?
a. Yes; in a single genre.
B. Which genre was least common?
a. Thriller/Horror

7) Here is a bar chart summarizing the 2005 movie genres, as seen in the pie chart in Exercise
5
A. Which genre was most common?
a. Comedy
B. Is it easier to see that in the pie chart or the bar chart? Explain.
a. It is easier to tell from the bar chart; slices of the pie chart are too close in size

9)
An article in the Winter 2003 issue of Chance magazine reported on the Houston Independent
School Districts magnet schools programs. Of the 1755 qualified applicants, 931 were
accepted, 298 were wait-listed, and 526 were turned away for lack of space. Find the relative
frequency distribution of the decisions made, and write a sentence describing it.

Of the 1755 students who applied for admission to the magnet schools program, 53% were
accepted, 17% were waitlisted, and the other 30% were turned away.


10)
The Chance article about the Houston magnet schools program described in Exercise 9 also
indicated that 517 applicants were black or Hispanic, 292 Asian, and 946 white. Summarize the
relative frequency distribution of ethnicity with a sentence or two (in the proper context, of
course).

Of the 1755 students who applied for admission to the magnet schools program, 29% were
Black/Hispanic, 17% were asian, and 54% were white.

12)
An investigation compiled information about recent nonmilitary plane crashes (www.
planecrashinfo.com). The causes, to the extent that they could be determined, are summarized
in the table.

A. Is it reasonable to conclude that the weather or mechanical failures caused only about
20% of recent plane crashes?
a. Yes
B. In what percent of crashes were the causes not determined?
a. 100% - 71% = 29%
C. Create an appropriate display for these data.
a.


16)
A survey of athletic trainers (Scott F. Nadler, Michael Prybicien, Gerard A. Malanga, and Dan
Sicher, Complications from Therapeutic Modalities: Results of a National Survey of Athletic
Trainers. Archives of Physical Medical Rehabilitation 84 [June 2003]) asked what modalities
(treatment methods such as ice, whirlpool, ultrasound, or exercise) they commonly use to treat
injuries. Respondents were each asked to list three modalities. The article included the following
figure reporting the modalities used:

A. What problems do you see with the graph?
a. The bar chart is confusing because there is no space in between and the labels
that run from top to bottom are misleading as well.
B. Consider the percentages for the named modalities. Do you see anything odd about
them?
a. The percentages all add up to 100% but the question asked for each respondent
to list 3 modalities- it is unclear if the additional modalities were accounted for in
the bar graph.

17)
The organization Monitoring the Future (www.monitoringthefuture.org) asked 2048 eighth
graders who said they smoked cigarettes what brands they preferred. The table below shows
brand preferences for two regions of the country. Write a few sentences describing the
similarities and differences in brand preferences among eighth graders in the two regions listed.

For the South and the West, about 58% of the 8th graders preferred Marlboro. Newport was the
next most popular. Camel was actually nearly 3x as often as the South and there were about 2
times as many smokers in the West as in the South had no brand (about 12.9%).


21)
Prior to graduation, a high school class was sur- veyed about its plans. The following table
displays the results for white and minority students (the Minority group included African-
American, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American students):
A. What percent of the seniors are white?
a. 82.5%
B. What percent of the seniors are planning to attend a 2-year college?
a. 13.4%
C. What percent of the seniors are white and planning to attend a 2-year college?
a. 11.1%
D. What percent of the white seniors are planning to attend a 2-year college?
a. 13.4%
E. What percent of the seniors planning to attend a 2-year college are white?
a. 85.7%

23)
Look again at the table of post- graduation plans for the senior class in Exercise 21.
A. Find the conditional distributions (percentages) of plans for the white students.
a. 73.9% 4-yr college, 13.4% 2-year college, 1.5% military 5.2% employment, 6.0%
other
B. Find the conditional distributions (percentages) of plans for the minority students.
a. 77.2% 4-yr college, 10.5% 2-year college, 1.8% military 5.3% employment, 5.3%
other
C. Create a graph comparing the plans of white and minority students.
a.
D. Do you see any important differences in the post- graduation plans of white and minority
students? Write a brief summary of what these data show, including comparisons of
conditional distributions.
a. The white and minority students plans are very similar. The small differences
should be interpreted with caution because the total number of minority students
is small. There is little evidence of an association between race and plans.

25)
The Chance magazine article described in Exercise 9 further examined the impact of an
applicants ethnicity on the likelihood of admission to the Houston Independent School Districts
magnet schools programs. Those data are summarized in the table below
A. What percent of all applicants were Asian?
a. 16.6%
B. What percent of the students accepted were Asian?
a. 11.8%
C. What percent of Asians were accepted?
a. 37.7%
D. What percent of all students were accepted?
a. 53.0%

27)
Examine the table about ethnicity and acceptance for the Houston Independent School Districts
magnet schools program, shown in Exercise 25. Does it appear that the admissions decisions
are made independent of the applicants ethnicity? Explain.

1755 students applied for admission to the magnet schools program: 53% were accepted, 17%
were wait- listed, and the other 30% were turned away. While the overall acceptance rate was
53%, 93.8% of blacks and His- panics were accepted, compared to only 37.7% of Asians and
35.5% of whites. Overall, 29.5% of applicants were black or Hispanic, but only 6% of those
turned away were. Asians accounted for 16.6% of all applicants, but 25.4% of those were turned
away. Whites were 54% of the applicants and 68.5% of those who were turned away. It appears
that the admissions decisions were not indepen- dent of the applicants ethnicity.

29) Just how accurate are the weather forecasts we hear every day? The following table
compares the daily forecast with a citys actual weather for a year:
A. On what percent of days did it actually rain?
a. 9.3%
B. On what percent of days was rain predicted?
a. 24.7%
C. What percent of the time was the forecast correct?
a. 80.8%
D. Do you see evidence of an association between the type of weather and the ability of
forecasters to make an accurate prediction? Write a brief explanation, including an
appropriate graph.
a. No, there appears to be no association between weather and ability to forecast
weather. On days it rained, his forecast was correct 79.4% of the time. When
there was no rain, his forecast was correct 81.0% of the time.

30)
In 2000, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a study that
examined pregnancies that resulted in the birth of twins. Births were classified as preterm with
intervention (induced labor or cesarean), preterm without procedures, or term/post- term.
Researchers also classified the pregnancies by the level of prenatal medical care the mother
received (inadequate, adequate, or intensive). The data, from the years 19951997, are
summarized in the table below. Figures are in thousands of births. (JAMA 284 [2000]:335341)

A. What percent of these mothers received inadequate medical care during their
pregnancies?
a. 63,000/278000= 22.7 % or 23%
B. What percent of all twin births were preterm?
a. 71,000/278000= 52.9% or 53%
C. Among the mothers who received inadequate medical care, what percent of the twin
births were preterm?
a. 13000+12000
15000/63000= 39.7% or 40%
D. Create an appropriate graph comparing the outcomes of these pregnancies by the level
of medical care the mother received.
a.
E. Write a few sentences describing the association between these two variables.
a. Because about 53% of all twin births were preterm and about 40% of all births
that did not have proper medical care were preterm, we can conclude that these
two are related. It is often found that women have complications during their
pregnancy regardless of whether or not they received proper health care.

32)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated that 19.8% of Americans
over 15 years old are obese. The CDC conducts a survey on obesity and various behaviors.
Here is a table on self- reported exercise classified by body mass index (BMI):

A. Are these percentages column percentages, row percentages, or table percentages?
a. Column
B. Use graphical displays to show different percentages of physical activities for the three
BMI groups
a.
C. Do these data prove that lack of exercise causes obesity? Explain.
a. No, the graph seems like there is evidence that exercise and BMI are but in
reality, it depends on the BMI. The relationship between each variable doesnt
show that they are associated with each other and only a controlled experiment
would be able to determine a more accurate result.

33)
Hearing anecdotal reports that some patients undergoing treatment for the eating disorder
anorexia seemed to be responding positively to the antidepressant Prozac, medical researchers
conducted an experiment to investigate. They found 93 women being treated for anorexia who
volunteered to participate. For one year, 49 randomly selected patients were treated with
Prozac and the other 44 were given an inert substance called a placebo. At the end of the year,
patients were diagnosed as healthy or relapsed, as summarized in the table:Do these results
provide evidence that Prozac might be helpful in treating anorexia? Explain.

No, theres no evidence that Prozac is effective. The relapse rates were nearly identical: 28.6%
among the people treated with Prozac, compared to 27.3% among those who took the placebo.
over 15 years old are obese. The CDC conducts a survey on obesity and various behaviors.
Here is a table on self- reported exercise classified by body mass index (BMI):

36)
A study by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center examined 626 people to see if
an increased risk of contracting hepatitis C was associated with having a tattoo. If the subject
had a tattoo, researchers asked whether it had been done in a commercial tattoo parlor or
elsewhere. Write a brief description of the association between tattooing and hepatitis C,
including an appropriate graphical display.
A. What percent of total drivers are under 20?
a. 4.42%
B. What percent of total drivers are male?
a. 45.9%
C. Write a few sentences comparing the number of male and female licensed drivers in
each age group.
a. From the youngest age to the oldest, you can see that there is an increase than a
decrease in the chart. It seems that later on, the female popular ends up having
more drivers. Both male and female in the chart are at about 50% with the female
having a higher percentage.
D. Do a drivers age and sex appear to be independent? Explain.
a. There might be a connection between the driver and the age group they belong
in. The younger drivers are male and the older ones are their famlies

38)
A company must decide which of two delivery services it will contract with. During a recent trial
period, the company shipped numerous packages with each service and kept track of how often
deliveries did not arrive on time. Here are the data:

A. Compare the two services overall percentage of late deliveries.
a. Pack Rats had 28 late packages and Boxes R Us had 30 late packages. The
percetage for Pack Rats is 5.6% late packages while the one ofr Boxes R Us is
6% for late packages.
B. On the basis of the results in part a, the company has decided to hire Pack Rats. Do you
agree that Pack Rats delivers on time more often? Explain.
a. In conclusion, the company would have been better off hiring Boxes R Us instead
of Pack Rats because Boxes R Us tend to deliver only overnight packages late
while Pack Rats had a higher rate for lateness in their regular deliver.
C. The results here are an instance of what phenomenon?
a. Simpsons Paradox.