Question

Jamming attacks on wireless networks. Terrorists often use wireless networks to communicate. To disrupt these communications, the U.S. military uses jamming attacks on the wireless networks. The International Journal of Production Economics (Vol. 172, 2016) described a study of 80 such jamming attacks. The configuration of the wireless network attacked was determined in each case. Configuration consists of network type (WLAN, WSN, or AHN) and number of channels (single- or multi-channel).

a. Suppose the 80 jamming attacks represent all jamming attacks by the U.S. military over the past several years, and these attacks are the only attacks of interest to the researchers. Do the data associated with these 80 attacks represent a population or a sample? Explain.

b. The 80 jamming attacks actually represent a sample. Describe the population for which this sample is representative.

c. Identify the variable “network type” as quantitative or qualitative.

d. Identify the variable “number of channels” as quantitative or qualitative.

e. Explain how to measure number of channels quantitatively?

Short answer

a. Population.

b. All the jamming attacks

c. Qualitative variable.

d. Qualitative variable.

e. Measuring it on a numerical scale.

Step-by-step solution

Identifying whether the given information represents population or sample.

It is mentioned in the question that there were only 80 jamming attacks by the military of the United States. Hence, these 80 attacks represent thepopulation.The population represents the group made by combining items that are similar or have some common attributes.

Obtaining the population

The sample is obtained from the population; if these 80 jamming attacks are a sample, then it is drawn from the population that comprises all the jamming attacks of the U.S. military on the wireless network.

Determining if the variable is qualitative or quantitative.

The network type is classified as aqualitative variablebecause it comprises the WLAN, WSN, or AHN; all these are descriptive variables and not numerical ones. The variables are qualitative when they describe the attributes.

Specifying if the variable is qualitative or quantitative

The number of channels is aqualitative variablebecause the number of channels is based on single and multi-channel and cannot be measured on a numerical scale. The qualitative variables get their values from observation.

Establishing the number of channels quantitatively

The number of channels can be measured quantitativelywhen the values are in numbers. This can be done by calculating the number of single channels and the number of multiple channels separately.