HARARE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENTS:
Food Processing Technology/Biotechnology/ Pharmacy

Bachelor of Pharmacy honours degree: Part II

BTec Food Processing Technology: Part II
BTec Biotechnology: Part II

Biostatistics Examination: SST216

Date: November 2015 Time: 3 hours

INTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

(a) This examination question paper consists of five (5) printed pages (including the cover
page) and has two sections (A and B).

(b) Answer ALL questions in Section A and any THREE questions from Section B.

(c) Section A carries 40 marks while Section B carries 60 marks.

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SECTION A (40 marks)

Answer ALL questions in this section.

A1. In a managed care organisation, the mean starting salary for males in entry level,
nonclinical positions is $29, 500. Starting salaries for a random sample of 10 females
in similar positions (in$1000s) follow:

32, 27, 31, 27, 26, 26, 30, 22, 25, 36

Is the mean starting salary for females significantly different from $29, 500? Use α =
0.05. [6]

A2. In a food processing factory, 55% of the workers are men and tell the truth 80% of the
time, while women tell the truth 60% of the time. What is the probability that an
employee at this factory selected at random will answer a question truthfully? [6]

A3. A manufacturer of medical devices has two plants and wants to compare them on the
proportion of defective items produced. In a random sample of 250 items from plant
I, 28 were defective. In a random sample of 220 items from plant II, 38 were defective.
Is there any significant evidence to support the claim that plant II produces more
defective items? Use α = 0.05. [6]

A4. Consider the following ages of students in a biostatistics class

23, 18, 19, 19, 27, 19, 22, 22, 18, 25, 26, 25, 30, 31, 34, 40, 19, 23, 26, 31, 33, 22, 17, 22, 31

(a) Calculate the first quartile (q1 ), median and the third quartile (q3 ). [2,1,2]
(b) Construct a box-plot of the data and comment if there are any outliers. [4]
(c) Construct a stem-and-leaf display of the data. [3]

A5. The response of a calorimetric test for glucose was checked with the aid of standard
glucose solutions.

Glucose concentration (mM) 0 2 4 6 8 10

Absorbance 0.002 0.150 0.294 0.434 0.570 0.704

(a) Determine the correlation coefficient and comment on the result. [4]
(b) Test the hypothesis: H0 : ρ = 0 vs H1 : ρ 6= 0 at the 5% level of significance. [6]

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SECTION B (60 marks)

Candidates may attempt THREE questions being careful to number them B6 to B11.

B6. Describe in brief the following sampling techniques.

(a) Simple random sampling. [5]

(b) Stratified sampling. [5]
(c) Systematic sampling. [5]
(d) Cluster sampling. [5]

B7. Suppose in a clinical trial that systolic blood pressures are measured at 4, 8 and 12
weeks post-randomisation in a subgroup of patients receiving a test drug.

systolic blood pressure

subject 4 weeks 8 weeks 12 weeks
1 120 125 130
2 110 115 118
3 105 110 100
4 140 130 140
5 150 145 140

(a) Test if there is a significant difference in mean systolic blood pressures over time.
Use α = 0.05. [12]
(b) Based on your results in part (a) above, explain whether it is necessary to perform
pairwise comparisons. [2]
(c) Describe in brief how the Studentised range test is used in pairwise compar-
isons. [6]

B8. In a laboratory containing polarographic equipment, six samples of dust were taken at
various distances from the polarograph and the mercury content of each sample was
determined. The following results were obtained.

Distance from polarograph 1.8 3.8 7.8 10.5 12 15.5

Mercury Concentration 2.4 2.5 1.4 1.3 0.5 0.8

(a) Using mercury concentration as the dependent variable (Y ) and distance as the
independent variable (X), fit a simple linear regression model of the form

Yi = β0 + β1 Xi + i , i = 1, 2, . . . , 6.

[4]
(b) Construct an ANOVA table and test for the significance of regression. Use α =
0.05. [10]

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(c) Construct a 95% confidence interval for the intercept and use the result to make
conclusions about the hypothesis:

H0 : β0 = 0 Versus H1 : β0 6= 0

[6]

B9. Consider the following grouped data:

Class 10 − 19 20 − 29 30 − 39 40 − 49 50 − 59 60 − 69
Frequency 4 7 3 16 8 7

(a) Estimate the mean, median and mode of the data. [2,4,4]
(b) Find the variance and standard deviation of the data. [5,1]
(c) Calculate the mean absolute deviation of the data. [4]

B10. (a) The number of computer malfunctions per day is recorded for 260 days with the
following results.

No. of malfunctions (xi ) 0 1 2 3 4 5

No. of days 77 90 55 30 5 3

Test at the 5% level of significance if the data fits a Poisson distribution with
parameter λ. [10]
(b) Prior to being randomised to one of two competing therapies, the severity of
participants’ migraines is clinically assessed. The following table displays the
severity classifications for patients assigned to the medical and non-traditional
therapies.

Severity Classification

Therapy minimal moderate severe Total

Medical 90 60 50 200
Non-traditional 50 60 90 200
Total 140 120 140 400

Is there a significant association between severity and assigned therapy? Use

α = 0.05. [10]

B11. (a) The probability that a patient recovers from a heart disease is 0.05. If 10 people
are known to have the heart disease, what is the probability that:
(i) Exactly 5 patients recover. [2]
(ii) At least 2 patients recover. [4]

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(b) The average number of telephone calls arriving at the switchboard of a company
is 30 calls per hour. Assuming that the arrival of telephone calls follows a Poisson
distribution, find:
(i) the probability that no calls arrive in a two minute period. [3]
(ii) the probability that more than 2 calls will arrive in a 6 minute interval. [4]
(c) A food processing company has found that on average the probability of a sale
of its products on a single contact is 0.05. If the salesman from this company
contacts 50 customers, what is the probability that at least 8 will buy? [3]
(d) A laboratory test is 95% effective in detecting a certain disease when it is infact
present. However, the test yields a ’false positive’ result for 1% of the healthy
persons tested. Suppose that 0.5% of the total population has the disease, cal-
culate the probability that a person has the disease given that the test result is
positive. [4]

END OF QUESTION PAPER

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