Question: Over the last year the absentee rate at a large corporation averaged 8.2 days absent with a standard deviation of 6 days. One department with 40 employees had an absentee rate of 12 days per employee. During an investigation the department head argued as follows: “If you took 40 employees at random from the corporation, there is a pretty good chance the average number of days absent would be 12 or more. That’s what happened to us – chance variation.” Is this a good defense? Justify your answer.