Question: Integrative Application Exercise
This text introduced you to the basics of descriptive statistics. Many of the business application problems, advanced business application problems, and cases will give you practice in performing descriptive statistical analysis. However, too often you are told which procedure you should use, or you can surmise which to use by the location of the exercise. It is important that you learn to identify the appropriate procedure on your own in order to solve problems for test purposes. But more important, this ability is essential throughout your career when you are required to select procedures for the tasks you will undertake. The following exercises will provide you with identification practice.
Go to your university library and obtain the Statistical Abstract of the United States.
a. Construct a frequency distribution for unemployment rate by state for the most current year available.
b. Justify your choice of class limits and number of classes.
c. Locate the unemployment rate for the state in which you are attending college.
(1) What proportion of the unemployment rates are below that of your state?
(2) Describe the distribution's shape with respect to symmetry.
(3) If you were planning to build a new manufacturing plant, what state would you choose in which to build? Justify your answer.
(4) Are there any unusual features of this distribution? Describe them.