Practice Exercise 

Practice Exercise

1. The University of Albany Agriculture Research team is concerned about the impact of rain accumulation on the productivity of New York State’s corn crop. Identify the management problem (i.e. dependent variable) and identify the independent variable.

An independent variable precedes the dependent variable in time (Pammer, 2013). In the current case, the dependent variable is the productivity of corn crops. On the other hand, the independent variable is the rain accumulation.

2. The state of New York has just changed one its toll roads from human collection of tolls to machine and EZ-PASS collection. The idea behind the change in collection was to allow traffic to flow more quickly through the toll plaza. Identify the management problem (i.e. dependent variable) and identify the independent variable. Next, offer a hypothesis of how the independent variable might impact the management problem (i.e., dependent variable).

The dependent variable in the above case is the flow of the traffic. The independent variable is the nature of the collection of tolls, which can be either the machine and EZ-PASS or human types.

Hypothesis: It is hypothesized that the machine and EZ-PASS collection system will have a quicker flow of traffic than the human collection system.

3. The police chief wants to know if the city’s African Americans feel that the police are doing a good job. Identify the management problem (i.e. dependent variable) and identify the independent variable.

The dependent variable is the perception regarding the police work, which can be either good or bad. Since the police chief is studying the African Americans as a group, he can obtain various variables by categorizing them into sociodemographic characteristics, which will act as the independent variables. Therefore, the independent variables are the demographic characteristics of African Americans, which may include age, gender, and the like.

4. As a result of numerous random traffic stops conducted by sheriff deputies, Sheriff Mack Wright has found that close to half of the county’s residents stopped are operating motor vehicles without current inspection stickers. Sheriff Wright decides to launch an aggressive public relations campaign threatening to crack down. Identify the management problem (i.e. dependent variable) and identify the independent variable. Next, offer a hypothesis of how the independent variable might impact the management problem (i.e., dependent variable).

The dependent variable is the number of residents operating automobiles without current inspection stickers. The independent variable is the type of campaign, which will constitute either the presence or absence of an aggressive public relations campaign.

Hypothesis: It is hypothesized that an aggressive public relations campaign will portray a lower number of residents without current stickers than no campaign.

5. The coach of the Browns High School Baseball Team wants to see the batting average improve among his players. He decides to devote more time to batting practice. Identify the management problem (i.e. dependent variable) and identify the independent variable. Next, offer a hypothesis of how the independent variable might impact the management problem (i.e., dependent variable).

The dependent variable is the batting average. The independent variable is the length of time used in batting practice.

Hypothesis: It is hypothesized that an increase in the length of practice will improve the batting average of the baseball team.