Theme: Exploring Data and Improving Quality

Abstract

In today’s information society, decisions are made on the basis of data. A student checks the calorie chart before selecting a fast-food lunch. A homeowner checks the efficiency rating before purchasing a new refrigerator. A physician checks the outcomes of recent clinical studies before prescribing a medication. An engineer tests the tensile strength of wire before it is wound into a cable. The decisions made from data—correctly or incorrectly—affect each of us every day of our lives. How to systematically study data for the purpose of making decisions is the overarching theme of modern statistics, and the basic ideas on how to make sense out of data are the subject of the first set of activities. These ideas should be studied thoroughly in an introductory statistics course because they form the building blocks for the remainder of statistics and the remainder of the activities in this program.