U.S. universities are concerned with increasing the percentage of alumni who donate to the school because alumni donation rate is a factor in the U.S. News & World Report€™s university rankings. What role might type of university play in alumni donation rates? U.S. News & World Report ranks private national universities, public national universities, and private liberal arts colleges (www.usnews. com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/ articles/2012/12/18/10-colleges-with-the-mostalumni- donors). National universities tend to focus on graduate education and research, whereas liberal arts colleges tend to focus on undergraduate education. Here are recent alumni donation rates for the top 10 schools on this variable. With the exception of Princeton, a private national university, all of these institutions are private liberal arts colleges.

a. What is the independent variable in this example? Is it nominal or scale? If nominal, what are the levels? If scale, what are the units and what are the minimum and maximum values? 

b. What is the dependent variable in this example? Is it nominal or scale? If nominal, what are the levels? If scale, what are the units and what are the minimum and maximum values? 

c. Construct a bar graph of these data, with one bar for each of the top 10 schools, using the default options in your computer software. 

d. Construct a second bar graph of these data, but change the defaults to satisfy the guidelines for graphs discussed in this chapter. Aim for simplicity and clarity. 

e. Cite at least one research question that you might want to explore next if you worked for one of these universities. Your research question should grow out of these data.

f. Explain how these data could be presented as a pictorial graph. (Note that you do not have to construct such a graph.) What kind of picture could you use? What would it look like? 

g. What are the potential pitfalls of a pictorial graph? Why is a bar chart usually a better choice?

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Alumni Top 10 Colleges and Universities in Terms of Alumni Donation Donation Rates (%) Princeton University (NJ) 62.6 Thomas Aquinas College (CA) 58.9 Carleton College (MN) Williams College (MA) 58.2 57.5 Amherst College (MA) 57.3 Centre College (KY) 54.9 Middlebury College (VT) 54.7 Davidson College (NC) 53.4 College of the Holy Cross (MA) 51.1 Bowdoin College (ME) 50.2