Chapter 3, Problem 1E

a.

To determine

Find the percent of college presidents who think that higher education provides a “poor” value.

Answer to Problem 1E

There are 3% of college presidents who think that higher education provides a “poor” value.

Explanation of Solution

Given info:

The table summarizes the information about the higher education system.

The table is as follows:

	Poor	Only Fair	Good	Excellent	DK/NA	Total
U.S Adults	321	900	750	107	64	2,142
Presidents	32	222	622	179	0	1,055
Total	353	1,122	1,372	286	64	3,197

Justification:

From the table the percent of college presidents think that higher education provides a “poor” value can be obtained as follows:

Total number of college presidents is 1,055 out of which 32 rated poor.

$\begin{array}{c}\text{The required Percent = }\frac{32}{1,055}\\ =3\%\end{array}$

Thus, there are 3% of college presidents who think that higher education provides a “poor” value.

b.

To determine

Find the percent of U.S. adults who think the value provided is either good or excellent and what is the comparable percentage of college presidents.

Answer to Problem 1E

The percent of U.S. adults thinks the value provided is either good or excellent is 40%. The comparable percentage of college presidents is 75.90%.

Explanation of Solution

Calculation:

The percent of U.S. adults who think the value provided is either good or excellent is obtained as follows:

$\begin{array}{c}\text{The required Percent = }\frac{\left(750+107\right)}{\text{2},\text{142}}\\ =\frac{\text{857}}{2,142}\\ =40\%\end{array}$

Thus, the percent of U.S. adults who think the value provided is either good or excellent is 40%.

The comparable percentage of college presidents is obtained as follows:

$\begin{array}{c}\text{The required Percent = }\frac{\left(622+179\right)}{1,055}\\ =\frac{801}{1,055}\\ =75.9\%\end{array}$

Thus, the comparable percentage of college presidents is 75.90%.

c.

To determine

Compare the distribution of opinions between U.S. adults and college presidents.

Explanation of Solution

Justification:

There are 3% of college presidents’ rate as a poor value and 15% of U.S adults’ rate as poor.

From the table, it can be calculated that there are 42% $\left(=\frac{900}{2,142}\times 100\%\right)$of U.S adults are likely to view college as an only fair value and 21% $\left(=\frac{222}{1,055}\times 100\%\right)$ of Presidents are likely to view college as an only fair value. Thus, U.S. adults percentage is twice that of the presidents percentage for the rating “Only Fair”.

The Presidents who are likely to rate college as a good or excellent value is 76% which is more than U.S adults.

Thus, compared to U.S adults, college Presidents have higher opinion of the value of college.

d.

To determine

Check whether it is reasonable to conclude that 5% of all U.S adults think that the higher education system provides an excellent value or not.

Answer to Problem 1E

No, it is not reasonable to conclude that 5% of all U.S adults think that the higher education system provides an excellent value.

Explanation of Solution

Justification:

The percentage of all U.S adults think that the higher education system provides an excellent value can be obtained as follows:

$\begin{array}{c}\text{The required Percent = }\frac{\left(107\right)}{2,142}\\ =4.9\%\end{array}$

There are about 4.9% of all U.S adults think that the higher education system provides an excellent value.

Thus, the percentage of all U.S adults think that the higher education system provides an excellent value is not exactly 5% but it is close to it.

Thus, it is not reasonable to conclude that 5% of all U.S adults think that the higher education system provides an excellent value.