Descriptive and Inferential Statistics Worksheet

Complete both Part A and Part B below.

Part A

Before completing the following questions, be sure to have read Appendix C and the Statistical Software Resources at the ends of Chapters 2 and 3 from Statistics Plain and Simple.

Highlight the required answers to the question in your Excel output.

• Using Microsoft^® Excel^®, enter the following data from the 40 participants by first creating a variable labeled “Score”. Next, compute the mean, median, and mode for the following set of 40 reading scores:
• Imagine you are the assistant manager of a fast food store. Part of your job is to report which special is selling best to the store manager at the end of each day. Use your knowledge of descriptive statistics and write one paragraph to let the store manager know what happened today. Use the following data.
• Suppose you are working with a data set that has some different (much larger or much smaller than the rest of the data) scores. What measure of central tendency (mean, median or mode) would you use and why?
• During the course of a semester, 10 students in Mr. Smith’s class took three exams. Use Microsoft^® Excel^® to compute all the descriptive statistics for the following set of three test scores over the course of a semester. Which test had the highest average score? Which test had the smallest amount of variability? How would you interpret the differences between exams, and note the range, means, and standard deviations over time?
• For each of the following, indicate whether you would use a pie, line, or bar chart, and why:
• Using the data from question 1, create a frequency table and a histogram in Microsoft^® Excel^®.

SUMMARY

31	32	43	42
24	34	25	44
23	43	24	36
25	41	23	28
14	21	24	17
25	23	44	21
13	26	23	32
12	26	14	42
14	31	52	12
23	42	32	34

Special number	Sold	Cost
Huge Burger	20	$2.95
Baby Burger	18	$1.49
Chicken Littles	25	$3.50
Porker Burger	19	$2.95
Yummy Burger	17	$1.99
Coney Dog	20	$1.99
Total specials sold	119

Test 1	Test 2	Test 3
90	94	95
65	75	90
51	77	91
88	84	93
72	88	92
75	84	90
60	75	83
78	85	90
80	80	92
84	88	94

• The proportion of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors in a particular university
• Change in GPA over four semesters
• Number of applicants for four different jobs
• Reaction time to different stimuli
• Number of scores in each of 10 categories

Part B

Answer the questions below. Be specific and provide examples when relevant.

Cite any sources consistent with APA guidelines.

Question	Answer
What are statistics and how are they used in the behavioral sciences? Your answer should be 100 to 175 words.
Providing examples of each, compare and contrast the four levels of measurement. Your answer should be 175 to 350 words.
Differentiate between descriptive and inferential statistics. What information do they provide? What are their similarities and differences? Your answer should be 175 to 350 words.

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