Is there evidence that males can label more states, on average, on a United States map in

five minutes than females can?

Lilly Friedman
AP Statistics
Mr. White
Period 3
Abstract:

This survey of 20 male students and 20 female students from Jonathan Dayton High School
examines the gender differences in United States geography skills; more specifically, it aims
to compare the mean number of states male and female adolescents can accurately label on
a United States map in five minutes. This survey found that there is no evidence that males
can label more states, on average, on a United States map in five minutes than females can,
countering the results of several similar studies.

Existing Research:

In the past, there have been a few other studies on the relationship between gender and

geography skills, most of which have found that males perform better than females in

geographical tasks. A study of adolescents in the 1990s reports that males consistently

outperform females in a cohesive test covering “physical, human, and regional aspects of

geography” (Henrie et al. 605). More specifically, a study of 1,800 undergraduate students

found that males perform better, on average, at locating specific places within the United

States. This study also notes that females and males learn new geographic information at

the same rate, suggesting that gender “differences in geographical knowledge cannot be

attributed to differences in capacity to learn place locations on maps” (Beatty and Trö ster

565). Both studies ensured that other variables, including education, travel history, desire

to travel, incidental exposure, and other “personal information items that might have

explained the difference” (Henrie et al. 605), were carefully tracked and eliminated as

reasons for differences in results.

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Conditions:

Participants were randomly selected.

One person’s number of states labeled does not affect another person’s number of states

labeled.

Boxplots of both samples appear roughly symmetric and have no outliers, so t-distribution

applies (see below).

There are more than 200 male students at Dayton, and there are more than 200 female

students at Dayton.

Conditions for inference are met.

Hypotheses:

H 0 : µ1 =µ2
There is no difference in the true mean number of states males can label in five minutes and the true mean
number of states females can label in five minutes. They are equal.
H A : µ1 > µ2
The true mean number of states males can label in five minutes is greater than the true mean number of states
females can label in five minutes.

µ1 =the true mean number of states males can label on a US map in five minutes
µ2 =the true mean number of states females can label on a US map in five minutes
a =0.05

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Procedure:

Participant selection: The survey consists of 20 randomly selected males and 20 randomly

selected females, stratified by grade level. Eight lists of students were obtained, one for

each gender-grade pairing. Each person in each list was assigned a number, and a random

number generator was used to select five unique numbers from each list. Each person

whose number was selected was put in the list of people in the survey. This process

ensures randomness and eliminates some confounding, as all grades are equally

represented and differences in results therefore cannot be attributed to differences in age.

Survey administration: Each person in the selected list was approached during the school

day and was asked for consent to participate. Upon giving consent, each participant was

given a blank United States map (see appendix), face down. All participants received the

same map. While the map was face down, participants were told that they would have five

minutes to label as many states as possible. They were also told that they could abbreviate

north, south, east, and west as N, S, E, and W, respectively, but that they should write out

the other parts of the state name. Additionally, they were told that they could draw lines to

the smaller states and write the names in the margins. An audible timer was set for five

minutes, and the participants were allowed to turn the paper over when the timer was

started. To ensure consistency, participants were not told how much time they had left at

any point in the activity.

Data collection: When time was up, participants were told to return their completed map,

and the maps were graded for accuracy. One point was given for each correct state, and

zero points were taken away for each omitted or incorrectly labeled state. Each
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participant’s points were tallied and entered into a two-columned table separated by male

scores and female scores. The results were recorded anonymously.

Errors/Bias:

Non-response bias: Two males who were randomly selected refused to participate in the

survey. People are less willing to participate in an activity they feel they may perform

poorly on; therefore, it is possible that this led to some undercoverage of lower-performing

males, leading to a male sample mean that may misrepresent the true male mean. It is

difficult to avoid this type of bias, as surveyors cannot control participants’ willingness to

participate in the survey.

Variable environments: The surveys were administered in many different types of

environments, including noisy gymnasiums, quiet classrooms, and busy hallways. This

could lead to some confounding, as some of the differences in scores could be attributed to

variable environments and not only to gender, and if those differences affected one

gender’s results more than the other’s, the conclusion could be inaccurate. In the future,

efforts can be made to administer the survey in the same type of environment, therefore

eliminating an additional confounding variable.

Data Summary:

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Calculations (Two Sample T-Test):

x1 - x2
t=
s12 s22
+
n1 n2
36.05 - 29.85
t=
(12.6885) 2 (13.0395)2
+
20 20
t =1.524 with 37.9717 degrees of freedom
P(t37.9717 >1.524) =0.068

Conclusion:

0.068>0.05

Since p>α, we fail to reject the null hypothesis. There is no evidence that males can label
more states, on average, on a United States map in five minutes than females can. This
conclusion can only be applied to Jonathan Dayton High School Students.

Works Cited:

Henrie, Roger L, et al. “Gender-Related Knowledge Variations Within Geography.”

SpringerLink, Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers, 1997,

link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1025618024694.

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Beatty, William W, and Alexander I Trö ster. “Gender Differences in Geographical

Knowledge.” SpringerLink, Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers, 1987,

link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00300374.

Appendix A: Data

Raw Data: Fathom Summary:

Appendix B: Volunteer Bias

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There were a lot of people interested in participating in the survey voluntarily. As a way to

prove that volunteer bias can indeed have an effect upon data collection and results, below

are the data summary and the test results—without conditions met—from those who

chose to participate in the survey.

Appendix C: United States Map Given to Participants

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Appendix D:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe :)

Ingredients
1 cup salted butter* softened
1 cup white (granulated) sugar
1 cup light brown sugar packed
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
2 cups chocolate chips (or chunks, or chopped chocolate)
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and
set aside.
2. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder. Set aside.
3. Cream together butter and sugars until combined.
4. Beat in eggs and vanilla until fluffy.
5. Mix in the dry ingredients until combined.
6. Add 12 oz package of chocolate chips and mix well.

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7. Roll 2-3 TBS (depending on how large you like your cookies) of dough at a
time into balls and place them evenly spaced on your prepared cookie sheets.
(alternately, use a small cookie scoop to make your cookies)!
8. Bake in preheated oven for approximately 8-10 minutes. Take them out when
they are just BARELY starting to turn brown.
9. Let them sit on the baking pan for 2 minutes before removing to cooling rack.

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