6.8.1: Review Questions
- Page ID
- 58311
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Review Questions
Multiple Choice
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According to the empirical rule, approximately what percentage of data falls within 2 standard deviations of the mean in a normal distribution?
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a) 68% b) 95% c) 99.7% d) 100%
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A coin is flipped 10 times. The number of heads follows which distribution?
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a) Normal b) Poisson c) Binomial d) Uniform
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A researcher obtains a p-value of 0.03 with α = 0.05. The correct conclusion is:
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a) The null hypothesis is proven true b) Reject the null hypothesis c) The alternative hypothesis is proven d) The result is meaningless
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Short Answer
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Explain the difference between mean and median. When is the median a better measure of central tendency than the mean? Give a real-world example.
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Describe the Central Limit Theorem in plain language. Why is it important for statistical inference even when the underlying data is not normally distributed?
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A 95% confidence interval for average customer spend is [$42.50, $47.50]. Interpret this interval. Does it mean there is a 95% probability the true mean is in this range?
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Explain the difference between Type I and Type II errors using a medical testing example (e.g., testing for a disease). Which error is more costly in this context, and why?
True/False
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True or False: The mean is always the best measure of center for any dataset.
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True or False: A p-value of 0.04 means there is a 4% chance the null hypothesis is true.
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True or False: The Poisson distribution is appropriate for modeling the number of customer arrivals per hour at a store, assuming arrivals are independent and occur at a constant rate.
Answer Key:
1-b, 2-c, 3-b, 4. Mean uses all values (sensitive to outliers); median is the middle value (resistant to outliers). Median better for skewed data. Example: income — a few billionaires skew the mean far above the median, so median better represents "typical" income. 5. CLT says: regardless of the population's shape, the distribution of sample means becomes approximately normal as sample size grows. Important because it lets us use normal-based inference (CIs, z-tests) even for non-normal data, as long as samples are large enough. 6. If we repeated sampling many times, 95% of such intervals would contain the true mean. It does NOT mean 95% probability for this specific interval — the true mean is fixed; the interval either contains it or doesn't. 7. Type I: healthy person diagnosed as sick (false positive) — unnecessary treatment, anxiety. Type II: sick person diagnosed as healthy (false negative) — missed diagnosis, disease progresses. In medical testing, Type II is often more costly (missing a treatable disease). 8. False, 9. False, 10. True.


