REAL STATISTICS REAL DECISIONS Putting it all together 122 CHAPTER 2 Descriptive Statistics You are a member of your local apartment association.The association represents rental housing owners and managers who operate residential rental property throughout the greater metropolitan area. Recently, the association has received several complaints from tenants in a particular area of the city who feel that their monthly rental fees are much higher compared to other parts of the city. You want to investigate the rental fees. You gather the data shown in the table at the right. Area A represents the area of the city where tenants are unhappy about their monthly rents. The data represent the monthly rents paid by a random sample of tenants in Area A and three other areas of similar size. Assume all the apartments represented are approximately the same size with the same amenities. EXERCISES 1. How Would You Do It? (a) How would you investigate the complaints from renters who are unhappy about their monthly rents? (b) Which statistical measure do you think would best represent the data sets for the four areas of the city? (c) Calculate the measure from part (b) for each of the four areas. 2. Displaying the Data (a) What type of graph would you choose to display the data? Explain your reasoning. (b) Construct the graph from part (a). (c) Based on your data displays, does it appear that the monthly rents in Area A are higher than the rents in the other areas of the city? Explain. 3. Measuring the Data (a) What other statistical measures in this chapter could you use to analyze the monthly rent data? (b) Calculate the measures from part (a). (c) Compare the measures from part (b) with the graph you constructed in Exercise 2. Do the measurements support your conclusion in Exercise 2? Explain. 4. Discussing the Data (a) Do you think the complaints in Area A are legitimate? How do you think they should be addressed? (b) What reasons might you give as to why the rents vary among different areas of the city? The Monthly Rents (in dollars) Paid by 12 Randomly Selected Apartment Tenants in 4 Areas of Your City Area A Area B Area C Area D 1435 1265 1221 1044 1249 1074 931 1234 1097 917 893 970 970 1213 1317 827 1171 949 1034 898 1122 839 1061 914 1259 896 851 1387 1022 918 861 1166 1002 1056 911 1123 1187 1218 1148 1029 968 844 799 1131 1097 791 872 1047 (Source: FortuneBuilders) Highest Monthly Rents For One-Bedroom Apartments San Francisco, CA $3500 New York, NY $3000 Boston, MA $2590 Oakland, CA $2500 San Jose, CA $2450 MEDIAN PER CITY
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