Data in the News
Statistics is a broad mathematical discipline dealing with techniques for the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of numerical data.
Statistics appear everywhere in our society. This project is intended to heighten your awareness of the use of statistics in the media, improve your critical thinking skills, and expose you to regular reading of newspapers/journals.
Find an article from the newspaper, news magazine, or search the internet that contains data. The data could be the summary of the results of a public opinion poll, crime rates, unemployment rates, research studies, etc. In writing the analysis of the article it should include answering the following.
a) Does that data constitute a population or a sample? If a sample has been taken, identify both the population and the sample; otherwise; identify the population. What is the problem or question? EXPLAIN
b) What type of data (quantitative or qualitative) has been
collected?
c) What is the source of the data? What was the method of
sampling? EXPLAIN
d) If a sample has been observed, is it likely to be
representative of the population? EXPLAIN
e) If a sample has been observed, does the article present an explicit (or implied) inference about the population of interest? State the inference.
f) Include any descriptive statistics/graphs that were presented to back up the inferences that were made.
The analysis should be written in complete sentences (not fragments). Each of the items above should be a separate paragraph (not bullets), although the paragraph may be only one or two sentences.
