UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES

THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

ECON1005: INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS – SEMESTER I 2014/2015
TUTORIAL SHEET #1
1. In your own words, define and give an example ( from your past experience in the real world) of
each of the following statistical terms:
a. Population vs Sample
b. Parameter vs Statistic
c. Descriptive Statistics vs Inferential Statistics
d. Census vs Sample Survey
e. Discrete vs Continuous Variables
f. Time Series vs Cross Sectional data

2. Name two organizations in the Caribbean that collect, summarize and publish DEMOGRAPHIC
data. Identify two publications by each of these organizations.

3. Name two organizations in the Caribbean that collect, summarize and publish SOCIO-
ECONOMIC data. Identify two publications by each of these organizations.

4. A manufacturer of computer chips claims that less than 8% of his products are defective. When
1000 chips were drawn from a large production run, 6.5% of these were found to be defective.
a. What is the target population?
b. Does the value 8% refer to the parameter or to the statistic?
c. Is the value 6.5% a parameter or a statistic?

5. Visit the FSS Computer Lab. Name and discuss the features of at least two statistical software
programs that are available for students to use, at the Faculty of Social Sciences Computer Lab.
Be prepared to demonstrate these features in your tutorial class.

6. Discuss the following questions and determine whether each is TRUE or FALSE. Justify your
choice in each case.
a. Inferential Statistics consists of methods that use sample results to help make decisions
about a population. T/F?
b. Continuous data can assume any value within a specified range and can only represent
approximations of true and exact measurements. T/F?
c. Selecting a student at random from a class and recording whether the student is a
smoker, is an example of a statistical experiment. T/F?
d. At the end of this course, you would have learnt many important skills that you would
never use or be exposed to in real life. T/F?
September 2014