STAT Interpreting Informative Texts 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A report includes the statement: 'The mean score was 78, but the median was 62.' What does this disparity most likely indicate?
- The test was poorly designed
- A few very high scores are pulling the mean upward (Correct answer)
- Most students scored above 78
- The data was recorded incorrectly
Correct answer: A few very high scores are pulling the mean upward
When the mean significantly exceeds the median, it suggests a positively skewed distribution with high-value outliers inflating the average.
Question 2: An environmental impact statement categorizes effects as 'direct,' 'indirect,' and 'cumulative.' A reader should understand that 'cumulative' effects refer to:
- The immediate physical changes caused by a project
- The combined result of multiple impacts over time across a region (Correct answer)
- Effects that are too small to measure individually
- Only the economic costs of a project
Correct answer: The combined result of multiple impacts over time across a region
Cumulative impacts are the total environmental effects when a project's impact is added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions.
Question 3: A text presents a Venn diagram with two overlapping circles labeled 'Online learners' and 'Full-time workers.' The overlapping region represents:
- People who are neither online learners nor full-time workers
- People who are both online learners and full-time workers (Correct answer)
- The total population surveyed
- People who switched between the two categories
Correct answer: People who are both online learners and full-time workers
In a Venn diagram, the intersection (overlap) of two circles represents elements belonging to both sets simultaneously.
Question 4: A passage uses the phrase 'anecdotal evidence' to describe several individual stories. The author is implying that this evidence:
- Is the most persuasive type of evidence available
- Is based on personal accounts rather than systematic data collection (Correct answer)
- Has been verified by independent researchers
- Should replace statistical analysis in all cases
Correct answer: Is based on personal accounts rather than systematic data collection
Anecdotal evidence consists of personal stories or isolated examples, which lack the rigor of controlled, systematic data collection.
Question 5: A text includes: 'The intervention group improved by 15 points; the control group improved by 12 points (difference not statistically significant).' What should the reader conclude?
- The intervention clearly works and should be adopted
- The observed difference could plausibly be due to chance (Correct answer)
- The control group performed better overall
- The study was too short to produce meaningful results
Correct answer: The observed difference could plausibly be due to chance
A non-significant result means the observed difference falls within the range expected by random variation, so the intervention's effect cannot be confirmed.
Question 6: An author writes: 'It should be noted that the funding for this study was provided by the pharmaceutical company whose drug was being tested.' This disclosure is included primarily to:
- Prove the study results are false
- Allow readers to consider potential conflicts of interest when evaluating the findings (Correct answer)
- Satisfy legal requirements unrelated to the study's conclusions
- Indicate that the researchers were not independent scientists
Correct answer: Allow readers to consider potential conflicts of interest when evaluating the findings
Disclosing funding sources lets readers assess whether financial ties might have influenced the study's design, analysis, or reporting.
Question 7: A passage describes a pie chart showing market share percentages that add up to 107%. A critical reader should recognize this as:
- An indication that the market is growing rapidly
- A data error, since all parts of a whole must total exactly 100% (Correct answer)
- Proof that some companies hold negative market share
- A rounding convention used in financial reporting
Correct answer: A data error, since all parts of a whole must total exactly 100%
Pie charts represent parts of a whole, so slices must sum to exactly 100%; any other total signals a data or presentation error.
STAT Interpreting Informative Texts 5
A report includes the statement: 'The mean score was 78, but the median was 62.' What does this disparity most likely indicate?