For the following situations, would you collect information using a sample or a popula-
tion? Why?
a. Statistics 201 is a course taught at a university. Professor Rauch has taught nearly
1,500 students in the course over the past 5 years. You would like to know the aver-
age grade for the course.
b. As part of a research project, you need to report the average profit as a percentage of
revenue for the #1-ranked corporation in the Fortune 500 for each of the last 10 years.
c. You are looking forward to graduation and your first job as a salesperson for one of
five large pharmaceutical corporations. Planning for your interviews, you will need to
know about each company's mission, profitability, products, and markets.
d. You are shopping for a new digital music player such as the Apple iPod. You would
like to estimate the typical amount of memory for an digital music player.