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Widening. Then, in Groups, You Will Explore This Hypothesis From The Point of View of Different Statistical
Widening. Then, in Groups, You Will Explore This Hypothesis From The Point of View of Different Statistical
Culminating Project
Part 5: Developing Statistical Arguments
To provide a focus for your culminating project, you must develop a hypothesis statement. For example,
you might propose one of the following hypothesis statements.
Professional sports teams with the highest payrolls are the most successful.
In Canada, men receive better medical treatment than women.
Alcohol addiction is a greater problem to society than drug addiction.
Next, you must develop several statistical arguments that will prove (or disprove) your hypothesis. In this
exercise you will examine the following hypothesis: The gap between the rich and the poor in Canada is
widening. Then, in groups, you will explore this hypothesis from the point of view of different statistical
arguments. (Your teacher will assign each group a different argument.)
See culminating project handout on Moodle.Teacher Notes: Students need to be able to answer the
following questions:
1. What are the indicators of wealth and how do we measure them?
a. assets: savings or property ownership
b. income: salary or investments
c. debt: mortgage; credit card balance
d. savings: bank deposits; short term investments (treasury bills)
2. How do we define rich and poor in terms of these indicators?
a. assets: poor (0); rich (>500,000)
b. income: poor (<25,000); rich (>100,000)
c. debt: poor (?); rich (0)
d. savings: poor (0); rich ($lots)
3. What kind of analysis makes sense?
a. measures of central tendency & spread
b. regression (time series or two variable)
4. How do we interpret the analysis?
Potential statistical arguments:
1. The rich are paying more income tax than they used to so they must be earning more money.
2. Income for the rich is growing at a faster rate than it is for the poor.
3. The number of rich people is increasing and the number of poor people is decreasing.
4. The gap between mean and median incomes is widening.
5. The number of poor single parent families is increasing while the number of rich single parent
families is decreasing.
6. The unemployment rate for less educated (poor) people is increasing while it is decreasing for
better educated (rich) people.
7. Rich people are saving more (RRSPs, housing, etc) than they used to.
8. The poor are spending more on basics (food, shelter, clothing, etc) than they used to while the
rich are spending less.
Critiqued by:
Argument 1
Argument 1
Argument 2
Argument 2
Argument 3
Argument 3
Critiqued by:
Description of
Data presented
to support
argument.
Rubric
Level 1
Feedback is of poor quality with very little
descriptive feedback
Level 2
Feedback is of average quality with some
descriptive feedback
Level 3
Feedback is of good quality with lots
descriptive feedback
Level 4
Feedback is of excellent quality with
insightful and descriptive feedback