Australian Bureau of Statistics graduate and statistician recruitment

Australia · Australian Bureau of Statistics · civil-service · unverified source

22practice questions written to this syllabus
3subjects

Format

Online application, assessments and interviews (reported).

Sections

Over the years

Built from Laisha's knowledge because the official page could not be opened or was not found during research (web search quota exhausted); confirm against the body's current notification before relying on it. The ABS careers page fetched was not found. ABS publishes Australia's agricultural commodity statistics.

Official source: https://www.abs.gov.au/

Subjects this exam draws on

Exploratory Data Analysis & Statistical Graphics13 questionsAgricultural Statistics System, Census & Official Statistics1 questionsIndex Numbers, National Accounts & Agricultural Economic Statistics8 questions

Five practice questions, worked

Original questions written to this exam's published syllabus and pattern. Not past papers.

1. An RBD has 8 treatments in 4 blocks. The data file contains 31 rows of plot yields. What does a first data check conclude?

  1. A plot record is missing or merged; find which before analysis
  2. One block was dropped from the experiment, leaving 3 blocks
  3. One whole block was dropped from the experiment, leaving three blocks of eight plots
  4. A treatment was added after randomisation, which accounts for the unexpected extra plots
Answer and working

A. A plot record is missing or merged; find which before analysis

The design implies 8 × 4 = 32 plots. A count of 31 shows a missing record (or a duplicate plus two missing). Counting each treatment and block finds which one.

Exploratory Data Analysis & Statistical Graphics · Types of data and measurement scales

2. Statistics Canada conducts its Census of Agriculture together with:

  1. Tax filing
  2. The labour force survey
  3. The population census
  4. The election
Answer and working

C. The population census

Statistics Canada runs it every five years with the population census.

Agricultural Statistics System, Census & Official Statistics · Other national systems: USDA NASS, Eurostat and national statistical offices

3. A Laspeyres index is 130 and the Paasche index for the same data is 120. What is the Dorbish-Bowley index?

  1. 124.90
  2. 125.00
  3. 250.00
  4. 10.00
Answer and working

B. 125.00

Dorbish-Bowley = (L + P)/2 = (130 + 120)/2 = 125. 124.90 is the Fisher index sqrt(130 x 120) = 124.90, a geometric rather than arithmetic mean.

Index Numbers, National Accounts & Agricultural Economic Statistics · Index numbers: Laspeyres, Paasche, Fisher and Marshall-Edgeworth

4. A line chart of annual production uses the years 1990, 2000, 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2017 at equal spacing on the x-axis. What is wrong?

  1. Unequal time gaps are drawn as equal
  2. Line charts must always start their vertical axis at zero
  3. Years should be plotted on a logarithmic scale instead
  4. Production should be shown as a separate pie chart for each year
Answer and working

A. Unequal time gaps are drawn as equal

A time axis must be proportional to time; otherwise the slow decades look as steep as single years. Line charts, unlike bar charts, need not start at zero.

Exploratory Data Analysis & Statistical Graphics · Graphical perception and honest chart design

5. A Gini coefficient of 0 indicates

  1. Perfect inequality, with one unit holding all
  2. That the Lorenz curve lies below the diagonal
  3. That the data cannot be ranked from poorest
  4. Perfect equality, with everyone holding the same
Answer and working

D. Perfect equality, with everyone holding the same

G = 0 when the Lorenz curve coincides with the line of equality; G approaches 1 when one unit holds everything.

Index Numbers, National Accounts & Agricultural Economic Statistics · Inequality measures: Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient

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