[ 333 ] Life Science GED ® TEST SCIENCE FLASH REVIEW • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A survey asks 100 respondents to rate how well they like a particular brand of cereal on a scale of 1 to 4. One (1) represented “Did not like at all,” 2 represented “Did not like or dislike,” 3 represented “Liked,” and 4 represented “Liked very much.” The responses were 10, 25, 35, and 30 for responses 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. You see that the responses are grouped into distinct categories (1, 2, 3, or 4). So, this is categorical data. One way to visually express this data is to organize it into a table. The first column contains the category of response. This column is usually the independent variable. In contrast, the second column contains the total number of respondents in that category, which is the dependent variable. The table would look like this: Consumer Opinion of Cereal Brand X Response Number 1. “Did not like at all” 10 2. “Did not like or dislike” 25 3. “Liked” 35 4. “Liked very much” 30 The table allows you to see the data easily. What would you conclude from the data? The majority of consumers surveyed A. did not like the cereal at all. B. did not like or dislike the cereal. C. liked the cereal. D. liked the cereal very much.