Recitation 1A - Madeline Scherer

Everyone loses or breaks their cell phone at some point. It’s just a matter of where, when, or
how. Think of 3 types of businesses/companies that would be interested in knowing details
about how often/when/why people use their Smart Phones:

1. Advertising companies
2. Social media platforms
3. Restaurants (for app ordering)

Check out the “Mobile Mindset Study” done by Lookout, Inc., a cybersecurity company, on the
topic of Smart Phone use. It’s filled with statistics and graphs, based on a survey from a sample
of cell phone users. It can be found as a PDF in Carmen, located right underneath this
assignment.

There are 5 statistical graphs in this report. For each graph, locate it in the report and read the
text around it. Then answer the following questions:

1. Graph 1 is titled: “We’re addicted to checking our phones!”

a. Read the information above/below the actual graph. What question(s) was asked in the
survey in order to get this information? - Do you typically go an hour without checking your
phone?
b. What is the main point of the graph, and does it match the title? Yes, the paragraph
talked about how typically people can’t go an hour without checking their phone.
c. This graph is somewhat confusing. For example, what do the percentages on the
right-side mean? Suggest an improvement. - Provide a title that goes above the ages explaining
what the side graphs mean.
d. How would a cybersecurity company like Lookout, Inc. use this information to sell its
product? - We are constantly - and for the majority of americans every single hour - putting our
personal information out there using our phones. We should want to protect this personal
information by taking advantage of cyber security companies like Lookout.

2. Graph 2: “How did you feel when you misplaced your phone?”
a. This graph does get cuteness points. However, is it effective, in your opinion? - I think
the graph is for the most part effective. For me, I am a very visual understander. This graph is
very visual and I easily understand what the numbers mean.
b. The percentages sum to one. Why is this important? - Because one represents 100% of
the people surveyed.
c. The circles are supposed to represent pie charts, but where are the slices? How do the
graphs show their respective percentages? Is this effective? I think that the circles representing
pie slices is not as effective as it is intended to be. I actually didn’t even notice it until this
question pointed it out. In my opinion the percentages below the circles were enough for me to
understand the data.
d. What kind of commercial could Lookout, Inc. make to help sell their product, using the
information from this graph? Describe the commercial briefly. - 73% of people who have
misplaced their phone panic, why? Because our phones contain personal data and information
that we do not want other people getting a hold of. This is where Lookout Inc protects you and
your data.

3. Graph 3: “Who says men aren’t emotional?”

a. The purpose of this graph is to expand the previous graph to include gender, and make
comparisons. Is this graph effective? Explain. - I think that this graph is unnecessary to include
in the article. The purpose of the article is to describe people's attachment to their phones.
Adding in the difference in emotions between men and women is off topic and in my opinion
confusing.
b. If you could come up with your own title for this graph what would it say? - “Phone
reliance and gender”

4. Graph 4: “Where do people check their phones?”

a. Response bias in a survey occurs if a person answers the question, but does not give
the true/correct information. Explain why there is a high potential for what is called response
bias in this data. - Because most people don’t want to admit to being rude or unsafe (using their
phone while driving). This might cause them to answer incorrectly and result in inaccurate data.
b. Comment on their choices for the age groups in this graph. (For example, they may have
lost some important information when they put everyone aged 18-34 in the same group. Why?).
- combining ages 18-34 is a very wide range of people. Many younger people in that age group
use their phones more because they grew up in a generation where that was normal. Whereas
someone who was 30 may not be as reliant on their phone because it is not something that has
been a part of their greater life.
c. Provide a one-sentence summary which describes where each age group checks their
phones. The majority of 18-34 year olds and 35-44 year olds check their phone while laying in
bed. The majority of 45-54 year olds check their phone the most while using the bathroom while
55+ mostly check their phone while in bed.
d. Can this graph be improved? How? - It is a bit confusing and unorganized. I wish there
was more of a description for each category and the percentages for the age groups
underneath.

5. Graph 5: “Which represents your biggest concern about losing your phone?”
a. This graph contains some overlaps in terms of the categories listed. Can you describe
one of them and why this is a problem in terms of survey accuracy? - Inconvenience is one of
the options for the survey. This could be a problem in terms of survey accuracy because
inconvenience can also mean cost and hassle, account information, and loss of personal data.
All of those are very inconvenient things so inconvenience as a concern about losing your
phone in this survey can be confusing and vague and lead to survey inaccuracy.
b. Notice there is no “not applicable” or “other” category shown in the graph. Explain why
that’s a problem. - because for some people they may not own a phone or they may have a
different reason why it is a concern that is not listed in the survey.
c. Notice that the percentages don’t sum to one. Why might that be? Does that cause you
concern? - it may be possible that there were answers that were not listed, but yes it definitely
causes concern that the numbers do not some to 100%.
d. Comment on the effectiveness of this graph. - for the most part I think this graph was
effective, but there were definitely some parts that could be fixed. For example having
inconvenience as an answer choice was very vague and could lead to survey in accuracy.

6. Conclusion:
a. Read the conclusion. Do you think their data support their conclusions? Are they
over-extending themselves? Is there something they left out, based on their graphs? - I think
that in their conclusion they didn’t do a great job of summing up the data that they included
throughout the article. They mostly just focused on ways to not lose your phone, instead of
recapping the data that I included throughout the article and why it is important to not lose your
phone and how we are attached to our phones.

7. At the very bottom of a lot of reports/studies using surveys is a section called “Survey
Methodology.” For this report, read it and answer the following questions.
a. Does the sample of people for this survey represent the much larger group of people on
which they are making conclusions in their report? - no it does not it only represents a very small
population.
b. What are some of the limitations in their sampling process? Suggest improvements. -
they could have done random sampling from different age groups. It seems like this survey was
just optional response and most people who answered the questions were probably younger.
c. After reading the survey methodology how good do you feel about the results of this
report? Discuss. - The results probably don’t represent the greater population as well as they
make it seem like it does. This is because they did not random sample every single population
that this data could possibly represent.
d. How would you improve on their survey and/or the way it was taken? - they could have
sent the survey out to more people over different age groups and two different regions and that
would create some more diversity in the data and in the study. Also having more than 2000
people take the survey would create more diverse results and accurate results.