Statistics,

TOPIC 1--SUBTLE STATISTICS (FOR 0.5 BONUS POINTS – THIS WEEK ONLY (POST SEPARATELY FROM TOPIC 2)

LIST THREE (3) items you have purchased relatively recently.  A major item (e.g., car, TV, refrigerator) would be good as well as grocery store or pharmacy items.  You can also include items you pick out this week when you shop, which may be easier to “see” why you made the choices you did. 

THEN, give the REASON(S) you chose those items over the others available.  Figure out how statistics (probability) figured into those decisions.  ALSO, what statistics might you have ignored in your choice?  Take some time analyzing these purchases and see if you were unduly influenced by questionable statistics or bias. 

Identify the “attractors” of products that have been shown to be statistically effective in increasing sales that the purchaser fell for.  Add any factors you or a purchaser might have ignored or simply neglected to consider in the purchase.  NO REVIEWS REQUIRED on this topic, but feel free to do so.

TOPIC 2 – SAMPLING  (ONE MAIN POST (2 PTS) AND 2 SUBSTANTIVE REVIEWS (@1/2 EA) REQUIRED)

Here is a housing development (consider it an entire population).  Let’s say it has 1000 units.  You are going to collect much smaller samples from that population to make decisions for the entire development’s population.  

1.  Pick ONE qualitative and ONE quantitative type of data you want to analyse

2.  Describe what SCALE (or level) EACH of these data types is measured on.

3.  Pick & justify a data collection (sampling) protocol.

4.  Finally, how many homes will you sample (why) and HOW will you do it RANDOMLY?