Activity from Class 1 - Domains, Data and Questions:
Listed below are approximately half of the responses from the first day class activity.
In this activity, you were asked to work in pairs and to identify domains in which
statistics could be used, types of data that might be collected, and the types of
(statistics) questions that could be asked. Some observations about these results
include:
Domains - There are clearly a wide variety of domains listed. I
am hoping that the projects cover as wide a variety of topics. To get a sense of the
wide variety of data available on the Web, you can look at the following web sites: University of
Washington Document Center, The
StatLib Datasets, and "Dr. B's World Wide Web of Data".
Data - Statistical data needs to be quantifiable (or at least
categorizable). While many of the responses in the data column are quantifiable
(e.g., rainfall, stock prices, etc.), some of the items would need to be further
specified. For example, "polls" is not a quantifiable form of data.
The percent of subjects agreeing with a certain poll question, however, is a quantifiable
statement.
Questions - All of the questions in this list are good questions.
However, not all of the questions are statistics questions. Statistics
questions typically involve a precisely defined statistic such as the mean or the standard
deviation (e.g., what is the average rainfall, the variability in starting salaries, or
the median home price). Frequently, statistic questions involve probability (e.g.,
what is the probability of a certain event). Statistics questions will typically
involve quantification of some parameter (counts, averages, or standard deviations).
We will talk further about identifying statistics questions since the various concepts
in the course provide ways to answer statistics questions. Thus, if you understand
the types of questions to be asked, you will then see the value of the concepts in the
lectures. For example, learning about probability concepts will make it possible for
you to ask questions about the probability of certain events such as the probability of
your starting salary being higher than a certain amount. Similarly,
learning about hypothesis tests for comparing two means will make it possible for you to
ask questions such as whether the average points earned per game for a Seattle team is
higher than the average points for an Atlanta team).
Keep up the good work!
Domain |
Data |
Question |
Weather |
Rainfall |
What
is the average rainfall? |
Thunderstorms |
Frequency
of storms in regional areas |
Which
region in the US has most thunderstorms |
Snowfall |
record
highs and lows of Mt. Baker |
How
many years has Mt. Baker had over 150 inches |
Stocks |
Stock
Prices |
What
is the price fluctuation in a year? |
Politics |
Polls |
Is
president Clinton doing a good job? |
Test
Scores |
Mean,
Standard Deviation |
Average
Class Score? |
|
|
High/Low
Score? |
Industrial
Waste |
Waste
Levels / Amounts |
High/Low
|
|
Toxicity
Levels Averages |
Who
has the fastest Lap? |
Race
Track Time & Speed |
High
/ Low Time |
Whose
most consistent? |
|
Average
Lap Time |
|
Card
Games |
Card
values / Cards in deck |
Odds
of a particular card coming up? |
Cars |
Price |
Comparison
of SUV |
|
Features |
What
car to buy? |
Skiing |
Fatalities
per year |
Probability
of dying while skiing in |
|
|
comparison
to dying while traveling by plane |
Animals
(Domestic) |
%
of people who own horses |
What
is the probability of my neighbor owning a horse? |
Traffic |
Average
Annual Daily Traffic Volume |
How
long does it take to travel somewhere in congestion? |
|
Average
destination time for travel |
How
does this time compare to travel during uncongested flow? |
|
|
What
is probability of traveling during congestion? |
Production |
Defective
Parts |
What
percentage of items produced fail? |
Birth
Control |
#
of Pregnancies |
How
effective is a certain birth control method? |
Air
Traffic Control |
Accidents |
When
they occur, how often, where they occur, what types |
Sports |
hits
(baseball), strikeouts, touchdown |
Average,
is it a high or low salary player? |
Car
Insurance |
Cost
of coverage |
Age
of person car, Model of car, Previous condition |
Fishing |
Size
& number of fish |
What
lakes & rivers are producing the most and biggest fish? |
Socks |
Warmth |
What
socks keep your feet warm in the winter |
Umbrella |
Durability |
What
is the chance and umbrella will last 13 year? |
Astronomical |
Comet
trajectory |
What
is time probability of a comet striking the moon |
|
|
The
collision course with the earth |
Employment
Rates |
Employment
rates per region/industry |
Average
employment rate of West Coast |
Dresses |
Size,
color & fabric for what season & region |
What
is the average size of teenagers in the NW? |
|
|
What
is the most common color worn by teenagers |
|
|
in
the NW during spring? |
Exercise |
How
often, how long, what type of exercise |
How
often does the average college female exercise during a week? |
Parking
at UW |
Arrival
and departure time of vehicles |
What
is the probability of encountering a delay at gate? |
Building
structures |
Tension,
compression forces, and loadings |
What
is the probability that the building is going to fall in the next 100 years? |
Level
of education |
#
of graduates |
Probability
of students finishing high school? |
|
#
of students |
Job
availability to the students? |
|
#
of drop-outs |
|
Husky
Football |
Lambrights
winning % |
Who
has a higher winning percentage (JL or RN) |
|
Bowl
game appearances since 1990 |
Who
has appeared in more bowl games UW or CU |
