Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management

Marketing Research Math

When you are doing marketing research, the target population is the group of people you want to study. A sample is a representative portion of the target population.

1.		If the target population of a study consisted of 200,000 people and you want to include 30 percent of them in the sample, how many people would be part of the sample?
			A)	30,000
			B)	60,000
			C)	6,000
			D)	3,000
2.		If the entire school population is the target population for a study, what percentage of the total participants in the study should be twelfth graders?
			A)	31.5%
			B)	67.4%
			C)	35.9%
			D)	32.6%
3.		If there are going to be 400 students in the study, how many twelfth graders should be included?
			A)	270
			B)	130
			C)	126
			D)	144
4.		What percentage of the total participants in the study should be in tenth grade?
			A)	31.5%
			B)	32.6%
			C)	67.4%
			D)	35.9%
5.		If there were 500 students in the study, how many of them should be tenth graders?
			A)	158
			B)	180
			C)	337
			D)	163
6.		If you expect to interview (sample) 150 people and each interview takes 15 minutes, how many hours will it take to complete the task?
			A)	75 hours
			B)	37.5 hours
			C)	32.25 hours
			D)	10 hours

Changing raw data into data that is more easily understood is called processing data. Calculating percentages and averages are methods used to process data.

Use the following results of pretest and posttest scores for three participants to answer questions 8-13.

7.		What is the numerical difference between the pretest and posttest scores for Participant A?
			A)	22
			B)	5
			C)	10
			D)	7
8.		By what percentage did Participant A's scores change?
			A)	+ 12.6%
			B)	+ 11.1%
			C)	+ 10.8%
			D)	+ 10.1%
9.		What is the numerical difference between the pretest and posttest scores for Participant B?
			A)	30
			B)	5
			C)	10
			D)	7
10.		By what percentage did Participant B's scores change?
			A)	+ 30.0%
			B)	+ 62.5%
			C)	+ 60.0%
			D)	+ 40.0%
11.		What is the numerical difference between the pretest and posttest scores for Participant C?
			A)	22
			B)	5
			C)	10
			D)	7
12.		By what percentage did Participant C's scores change?
			A)	- 15.9%
			B)	- 12.5%
			C)	- 11.1%
			D)	-13.6%

Use the results of a 150-question test shown in the following chart to answer questions 14-17.

13.		What percentage of the questions did Student A answer correctly?
			A)	91.3%
			B)	105.0%
			C)	79.6%
			D)	70.0%
14.		What percentage of the questions did Student B answer correctly?
			A)	91.3%
			B)	88.4%
			C)	13.7%
			D)	94.8%
15.		What percentage of the questions did Student C answer correctly?
			A)	91.3%
			B)	94.0%
			C)	62.7%
			D)	72.5%

The key characteristics of the target population should be reflected in the sample. For example, a school population can be classified by grade level. Therefore, if your target population is an entire school, your sample should include the same percentage of each grade level represented in the entire school population. So if an entire school population is 2,000 and there are 500 students in each grade, then each grade should represent 25 percent of your sample (500 divided by 2,000 = 25 percent).

Use the information about a three-year high school in the following chart to answer questions 2-6.

16.		What is the total number of students in the high school?
			A)	897
			B)	883
			C)	1310
			D)	It is impossible to calculate from the data given.
17.		Determine the mean (average score) for the raw test scores.
			A)	336
			B)	74.7
			C)	112
			D)	100
18.		What was the average rating for the store's interior displays?
			A)	6.1
			B)	5.7
			C)	6.8
			D)	6.3
19.		What was the average rating for the store's window displays?
			A)	9.1
			B)	6.4
			C)	8.2
			D)	7.1
20.		What was the average rating for the store's newspaper ads?
			A)	5.1
			B)	5.7
			C)	6.1
			D)	5.5