UW Stout's Freshman Survey of first‑time, full‑time freshmen who entered college in 2022 reports the following data on the sources students use to pay for college expenses:

Which statement best fits the use of a pie chart for this data?

Question

UW Stout's Freshman Survey of first‑time, full‑time freshmen who entered college in 2022 reports the following data on the sources students use to pay for college expenses:

Which statement best fits the use of a pie chart for this data?

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

We begin by restating the scenario: the data describes sources students use to pay for college expenses, and we’re asked which statement best fits the use of a pie chart for this data.

Option A: 'A pie chart works for this data because it is quantitative data.' Pie charts are typically used for categorical data that represent parts of a whole, not raw quantitative measures like counts or amounts alone. This statement mischaracterizes the nature of the data and the appropriate chart type, making it misleading.

Option B: 'A pie chart does not work for this data because students have more than one source of funding for their college expenses.' This is a key point: pie charts assume mutually exclusive categories that collectively sum to a whole. If students can have multiple funding sources, the categories are not mutually exclusive and the total across categories can exceed 100% or require double counting, which a single pie chart cannot accurately represent. This makes the pie chart unsuitable for this data as described.

Option C: 'A pie chart does not work for this data because this is quantitative data.' This again conflates data type with chart suitability. The issue isn’t whether the data are quantitative per se, but whether the data are mutually exclusive parts of a single whole. Describing the data as quantitative does not inherently disqualify a pie chart, but in this case the mutual exclusivity problem is the actual limitation.

Option D: 'A pie chart works for this data because students have more than one source of funding for their college expenses.' This statement wrongly asserts that having multiple sources makes a pie chart appropriate. In fact, multiple sources mean the proportions aren’t mutually exclusive per category, so a pie chart would misrepresent the data. The reasoning here is incorrect.

In summary, the critical point is whether the data can be cleanly partitioned into non-overlapping categories that sum to a whole. Since students may report more than one funding source, a pie chart would not accurately reflect the distribution. Therefore, the reasoning in the other options either mischaracterizes the data type or incorrectly asserts suitability of a pie chart given non-exclusive categories.

UW Stout's Freshman Survey of first‑time, full‑time freshmen who entered college in 2022 reports the following data on the sources students use to pay for college expenses: Which statement best fits the use of a pie chart for this data?

View Explanation

Log in for full answers

Similar Questions

Which of the following should be plotted using a pie chart?

A pie chart

Question at position 5 Indicate whether this statement about the pie charts shown is True or False. There is no clear overall trend for the results in the pie charts from 2020 to 2021.TrueFalse

A pie chart is often used to show how the total can be broken down into percentages.

Which of the following are true of pie charts? I. A pie chart is for categorical data only. II. Two side-by-side pie charts are effective for showing an association between two variables. III. Pie charts show how large each category is relative to the total.

A pie chart shows the ___________________

A pie chart

UW Stout's Freshman Survey of first‑time, full‑time freshmen who entered college in 2022 reports the following data on the sources students use to pay for college expenses: Which statement best fits the use of a pie chart for this data?

More Practical Tools for Students Powered by AI Study Helper

Homework AI Solver

Stylized AI Paper Writer

Plagiarism Checker Assistant

Citation AI Academic Writing Tool

In-Class Translation Assistant

AI Note Generator

AI Quiz Answers

Past Exam Questions from University Test Bank

Smart Practice Assistant

Adaptive Practice

Making Your Study Simpler