Question: U.S. Universities are concerned with increasing the percentage of alumni who donate to the school because alumni donation rate is a factor in the U.S. News & World Report university rankings. What factors might play a role in alumni donation rates? Although we could test numerous variables, let's look at one: type of university. U.S. News & World Report lists the top-10 national universities (all of which are private), the top-10 public national universities, and the top-10 liberal arts colleges (also all private). National universities focus on graduate education and research, whereas liberal arts colleges focus on undergraduate education. To give you a sense of the type of institutions in each of these categories, the number-one schools for 2004 in the three categories were Harvard University, the University of California at Berkeley, and Williams College, respectively. Here are the 2004 alumni donation rates for the top-10 schools in each of these categories.
a. What is the independent variable in this example? Is it nominal or scale? If nominal, what are the levels? If scale, what are the units and what are the minimum and maximum values?
b. What is the dependent variable in this example? Is it nominal or scale? If nominal, what are the levels? If scale, what are the units and what are the minimum and maximum values?
c. Construct a bar graph of these data using the default options in your computer software.
d. Construct a bar graph of these data, but change the defaults to satisfy the guidelines for graphs discussed in this chapter. Aim for simplicity and clarity.
e. What does the pattern of the data suggest?
f. Cite at least one research question that you might want to explore next if you worked for one of these universities-your research question should grow out of these data.