COMM 104

Assignment 1
Modules 1, 2, and 3
Due: Wednesday, January 25th by 11:59 PM

Instructions (please read carefully!)

Please submit your assignment on Canvas by the deadline. Complete your work in Word, then
export your completed assignment to PDF. Instructions are given below. Show all of your work.
Your assignment must include a signed declaration of academic integrity (provided below – type
your name into both fields). Failure to submit a signed declaration of academic integrity will
result in a grade of 0% on the assignment.

Some parts of this assignment require the use of Excel. When you use Excel to complete a
calculation, provide the command you used. For example, if you calculated the mode of data you
have in cells A1 to A5 and got the result “10”, provide:

=MODE(A1:A5)=10.

If the question says to use Excel, then you must use Excel; otherwise, you will receive a
grade of 0 on that question. DO NOT submit an Excel spreadsheet. Read each question
carefully for more details.

How to export your assignment from Word to PDF if you are using a Mac

File > Print… > PDF (bottom left drop-down menu) > Save as PDF…

How to export your assignment from Word to PDF if you are using a Windows computer

File > Export > Create PDF/XPS (check the pop-up window says “Save as: PDF”)

What to do if you encounter technical difficulties

Make sure you're using a fully updated version of Google Chrome. You can check by clicking
the three vertical dots in the top right corner, and then click Settings. In the tab that opens, click
About Chrome on the left hand side at the bottom of the list. Chrome will automatically update if
there are any available. Then, clear the browser history and cache for Chrome. You can follow
the instructions from the link here: How do I clear my web browser cache/history?
Then, log out of PAWS and close Chrome entirely (don't just close the window!) and re-open it.

If you still encounter technical difficulties after following the above steps, please email me at
least 48 hours in advance of the deadline for assistance.

Please submit all content from pages 2 onward. Your answers to the questions should be
provided in this document. Delete this page (page 1) before converting to PDF to submit.

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Declaration of academic integrity

I, ___________Sara LaFreniere_____________________________________________ (printed

or typed name as it appears in Canvas) declare that I did not use any unauthorized resources
when completing this assignment.

I understand that the authorized resources for this assignment are:

- The posted COMM 104 material on Canvas

- The YouTube videos linked to from the course syllabus posted on Canvas
- Office hours
- The Math & Stats Learning Centre
- Discussions with a classmate: I understand I may tell a classmate where to find an answer to a
similar question in the course material, but I must not share my answer.

I understand that posting these questions, or my answers, or the instructor’s answers to a website
or app will result in academic misconduct charges.

I understand that use of an unauthorized resource will result in academic misconduct charges.

I understand that academic misconduct charges carry a penalty of anywhere from 0% on the
assignment to expulsion from the university.

Signature: ___Sara LaFreniere_____________________________________

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Assignment Questions

1. [4 marks] Identify the type of variable being discussed in each of the following situations. If
the variable is qualitative (categorical), state also whether it is nominal or ordinal; if the variable
is quantitative, state also whether it is discrete or continuous. Do not provide any additional
explanation or justification.

a. [1 mark] An internet TV streaming service has many types of TV shows available (e.g.,
comedy, drama, supernatural, fantasy, etc.). What type of variable is “television show type”?

Type of variable: ___ Qualitative and Nominal_________________________________

b. [1 mark] Greeting cards in a grocery store are organized by group. For example, there are
birthday cards, sympathy cards, wedding cards, etc. What type of variable is “greeting card
group”?

Type of variable: ___ Qualitative and Nominal_________________________________

c. [1 mark] Suppose calls are received at an IT help call centre at random times throughout the
workday. The duration of each call is recorded. What type of variable is “duration of a call”?

Type of variable: __Quantitative and Continuous__________________________________

d. [1 mark] Poker is a common casino game involving a deck of cards. A deck of cards has four
suits: spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. Suppose in one game of poker, spades are the highest
ranking suit, followed by hearts, diamonds, then clubs. What type of variable is “suit of a card in
this game of poker”?

Type of variable: _____Quantitative and Discrete_______________________________

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2. [4 marks] Identify the type of sampling being discussed in each of the following situations. If
the answer is simple random sampling, identify whether it is being conducted with or without
replacement. Do not provide any additional explanation or justification.

a. [1 mark] An Edwards School of Business academic advisor is interested in assisting students

with major selection. The population of interest is “all students who have not yet selected a
major”. Since Edwards students must have chosen a major by the end of their second year, that
means only first- and second-year students have not yet selected a major. Suppose there are 600
first-year and 700 second-year students; of the second-year students, 500 have already selected a
major. There are six majors available: accounting, finance, human resources, marketing,
management, and supply chain management. This particular academic advisor is not able to meet
with every Edwards student, so has selected a random sample of 50 first year and 50 second year
students who have not yet declared a major. Each chosen student is required to state their
intended major.

Type of sampling: __Cluster Stratified Sampling__________________________________

b. [1 mark] A high school guidance counsellor is interested in investigating whether students in

their high school are interested in postsecondary education. The guidance counsellor selects 40
students at random from their high school, which has 150 students. Each selected student is
required to report whether they are currently interested in college, university, apprenticeship, or
none of the above.

Type of sampling: ____Simple Random Sampling. It is being used with replacement

c. [1 mark] A researcher is interested in studying the effect of time spent in front of a screen (e.g.
a television, tablet, laptop, or phone) on attention span. They obtain a sample of 500 people, with
50 people selected from each the following age groups: 11 – 15, 16 – 20, 21 – 25, 26 – 30, 31 –
35, 36 – 40, 41 – 45, 46 – 50, 51 – 55, 56 - 60. All selected people’s time spent in front of a
screen is measured. The population of interest is all people in the world age 11 – 60.

Type of sampling: __Stratified Random Sampling __________________________________

d. [1 mark] A marketing professional is interested in comparing brand awareness (i.e., whether a

potential customer has heard of the brand) between brands of shoes in Canada. They select 100
communities at random and a survey is sent to all residents in those communities. Assume for
the sake of this question that every person who receives a survey must send a response. Note
there are more than 100 communities in total in Canada.

Type of sampling: ___Simple Random Sampling. It is being used without replacement.

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3. [5 marks] The Retail Council of Canada provides the current minimum wage for each
province and territory in Canada. Note Canada has 10 provinces and 3 territories. (Source:
https://www.retailcouncil.org/resources/quick-facts/minimum-wage-by-province/) :

Province/Territory Minimum Wage (as of October 1, 2022)

Alberta $15.00
British Columbia $15.65
Manitoba $13.50
New Brunswick $13.75
Newfoundland & Labrador $13.70
Nova Scotia $13.60
Ontario $15.50
Québec $14.25
Saskatchewan $13.00
Yukon $15.70

a) [3 marks] Calculate the mean minimum wage. Do not use Excel. Show your work: show the
equation you use, how you plug in, and your final answer (yes, you do need to write down every
single value). Round your final answer to 2 decimal places. For example, if you calculate a final
answer of 10.555, round this to 10.56. Provide appropriate units. You may wish to copy/paste
from a review or tutorial question to save time typing. You may also do this by hand and insert a
picture of your work if you wish.

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b) [2 marks] Is your result from part a) a parameter, or a statistic? Answer by filling in the blank
below, with either the word “statistic” or the word “parameter” as appropriate and explain in no
more than three sentences.

Mean minimum wage: _parameter________________

Explanation: it is considered a parameter because its describing an entire population rather than
a sample from said population.

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4. [7 marks] A large bank is interested in examining the distribution of client ages. They have
millions of clients. Although they know the age of each client, it would take too long to produce
graphs that contain the entire population. They instead take a simple random sample of 25
customers and create the histogram of ages shown below. The data for the histogram are given in
PAWS > Canvas > COMM 104 > Assignments > Assignment 1 >
COMM104_Assignment1_W23_Q4.xlsx.

Comment on the histogram. Recall that to comment on a histogram you need to answer four
questions, given below. If you calculate a standard deviation, round it to 2 decimal places.

a) [1 mark] What is the shape of the distribution? _It is left Skewed (negatively skewed)

b) [4 marks] Are there any extreme values? If so, what are they? If not, why aren’t there any
extreme values (use the definition of an extreme value in relation to a histogram to help you here,
and show all of your work)?

No, there are no extreme values (outliers). The definition of an extreme explains that an extreme
value is a point that falls one and a half times the interquartile range. Meaning either above the
third quartile or below the first quartile. This graph depicts neither of those characteristics.

c) [1 mark] What is the centre of the distribution? Provide the appropriate measure of centrality.
Show your work: show the Excel formula you use to find your answer.

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d) [1 mark] What is the spread of the distribution? Provide the appropriate measure of variability.
Show your work: show the Excel formula you use to find your answer.

5. [2 marks] Suppose a Career Development Manager is interested in keeping track of the

number of students who pick each possible major in the Edwards School of Business. They
obtain the following data set for majors chosen in 2021 (note this is not real data):

Major Accounting Finance Human Management Marketing Supply

Resources Chain
Management
Number 130 110 90 60 100 75
of
students

Use Excel to construct an appropriate bar graph. Put the major on the horizontal axis. Ensure
your bar graph has horizontal and vertical axis titles and an overall title. Your graph should be
large enough to be read easily on a screen (the width of the graph should be no smaller than half
the width of the page, and you should use font size at least 14 for axis titles). Hand-drawn
graphs will receive a grade of 0.

For Excel instructions on creating a bar graph, please go to PAWS > Canvas > COMM 104 >
Modules > Module 3 Required Reading > Written Guide to Creating Excel Figures. Pages 18-20
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have step-by-step instructions on how to create a bar graph using a different example. You can
copy/paste the provided table into Excel and start at step 3. You may instead be interested in
Excel Video 4 in the same folder. In Excel, right-click on your finished graph and click “Save as
Picture”. You can then import your graph into Word by using Insert > Pictures > Picture from
File and selecting your saved graph.

Insert your graph here:

Number of Students Per Major

140

120
Number of students

100

80

60

40

20

0
Accounting Finance Human Management Marketing Supply Chain
Majors
Resources Management

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6. [3 marks] Fill in the missing values in the following table of relative frequency, labelled A, B,
and F. Show how you calculate each value. Hint: start with A. Also, PAWS > Canvas > COMM
104 > Modules > Module 3 > Tutorial video 3 should be very helpful here. There are no marks
available for finding any other missing values but finding them should be helpful for answering
the question.

Class Frequency Relative frequency Cumulative relative

frequency
1 to 5 250 0.10
6 to 10 F A 0.60
11 to 15 B

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