Question

Volkswagen emissions scandal.Refer to the Significance(December 2015) study on estimating the number of U.S,deaths attributable to nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollutionproduced from illegal VW vehicles, Exercise 2.82 (p. 111).Recall that the researchers computed the estimate foreach of 27 different scenarios involving different valuesof three variables: total distance (in miles) driven by theseillegal VW vehicles, the amount by which the VW vehiclesexceeded the EPA standard for NOx, and the estimated association between NOx emissions and mortality. Summarystatistics for the estimated number of deaths are shown inthe accompanying Minitab printout. Suppose the media

have requested that the researchers provide a single statistic that best represents the center of the distribution of estimated deaths attributable to NOx pollution produced from the illegal VW vehicles. This statistic will be used to publicize the study findings.

a.If you work for Volkswagen and would like to diffuse the media’s reaction to the emissions scandal, which statistic would you choose to report and why?

b.If you support an environmental watch group and would like to incite the media to publicize the emissions scandal, which statistic would you choose to report and why?

Short answer

1. The descriptive statistics will be appropriate.

2. The descriptive statistics will be appropriate.

Step-by-step solution

Given information

There are different scenarios involving different values of three variables.

For emissions scandal use statistic

We use descriptive statistics in this case. It is helpful to summarize the data to find emissions scandal.

Find the category of media to publicize emissions scandal use statistic

We use descriptive statistics in this case also. It is helpful to summarize the data to find emissions scandal.