The Bureau of Transportation Statistics Omnibus Household...

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics Omnibus Household Survey is conducted annually and serves as an information source for the U.S. Department of Transportation. In one part of the survey the person being interviewed was asked to respond to the following statement: "Drivers of motor vehicles should be allowed to talk on a hand-held cell phone while driving." Possible responses were strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, and strongly disagree. Forty-four respondents said that they strongly agree with this statement, 130 said that they somewhat agree, 165 said they somewhat disagree, and 741 said they strongly disagree with this statement. a. Do the responses for this statement provide categorical or quantitative data? b. Would it make more sense to use averages or percentages as a summary of the responses for this statement? c. What percentage of respondents strongly agree with allowing drivers of motor vehicles to talk on a hand-held cell phone while driving? d. Do the results indicate general support for or against allowing drivers of motor vehicles to talk on a hand-held cell phone while driving?

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics Omnibus Household Survey is conducted annually and serves as an information source for the U.S. Department of Transportation. In one part of the survey the person being interviewed was asked to respond to the following statement: "Drivers of motor vehicles should be allowed to talk on a hand-held cell phone while driving." Possible responses were strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, and strongly disagree. Forty-four respondents said that they strongly agree with this statement, 130 said that they somewhat agree, 165 said they somewhat disagree, and 741 said they strongly disagree with this statement.
a. Do the responses for this statement provide categorical or quantitative data?
b. Would it make more sense to use averages or percentages as a summary of the responses for this statement?
c. What percentage of respondents strongly agree with allowing drivers of motor vehicles to talk on a hand-held cell phone while driving?
d. Do the results indicate general support for or against allowing drivers of motor vehicles to talk on a hand-held cell phone while driving?

Key Concepts

Percentage Calculation

Percentage calculation is a method used to express the relative frequency of each category in relation to the whole dataset. It is a useful tool for summarizing survey data by showing what portion of the entire sample falls into each response category.

Descriptive Statistics

Descriptive statistics involve methods for summarizing and describing the key features of a dataset. In the case of survey responses, summarizing the data in terms of percentages is more appropriate than using averages, as percentages effectively convey the proportion of respondents in each categorical group.

Interpretation of Survey Results

Interpreting survey results means analyzing the summarized data to draw conclusions about the overall sentiment or opinion. By examining the percentages of responses, one can determine whether there is general support or opposition toward a statement, providing insight into public attitudes based on the collected data.

Categorical Data

Categorical data refers to information that is sorted into groups or categories that describe qualities or characteristics rather than numeric values. In this context, respondents’ answers such as 'strongly agree' or 'strongly disagree' are labels that classify attitudes, making the data categorical.

Ordinal Data

Ordinal data is a subtype of categorical data where the categories have a natural, meaningful order or ranking. The responses provided, ranging from 'strongly agree' to 'strongly disagree,' inherently indicate an order in terms of intensity of opinion, even though the distances between categories are not precisely measurable.

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