Homework 4

This homework is worth 8 percent of your grade. You must answer all sections and it is due by
the following dates on Moodle:

• Sections 5 and 6: April 8.

• Sections 39 and 40: April 13.

You can form teams of two to work on this assignment (bigger teams will not be allowed). If you
do, write both names on the assignment (only one team member should hand it in)

Student(s) full name:

1. Sam Kunaratnam

2. Youssef Gabra

*keep the 2 decimal places in your answers

1. Confidence intervals (2 points): A local police department estimated the average speed of cars
along St. John’s Boulevard. With hidden radar, the speed of a random selection of 44 cars was
measured. It yielded a sample mean of 53 km per/hr and a sample standard deviation of 5.9
km per/hr.

a. Estimate the standard error of the mean.

Calculations: 5.9/ square root(44) = + 0.89 and -0.89

Standard error of the mean: -0.89 to +0.89

b. Find the 98% confidence interval for the average speed of all cars driving on St.
John’s Boulevard.

Df= 44-1 = 43
t value = 2.424

C.I = 53 + 2.424(0.89) and C.I = 53 -2.424 (0.89)

C.I = 55.16 and C.I = 50.84

C.I = 50.84 to 55.16

 c. Find the 99.9% confidence interval for the average speed of all cars driving on St.
John’s Boulevard.

Df = 44-1 = 43
t value = 3.551

C.I = 53 + 3.551(0.89) and C.I = 53 - 3.551(0.89)

C.I = 56.16 and C.I = 49.84

C.I = 49.84 to 56.16

2. Confidence intervals (2 points): A high tech company with over 500 employees would like to
estimate the average number of years of post-secondary education its employees have
completed. In a random sample of 118 employees, it was found that the sample mean is 5.2
years of post-secondary education. A previous survey of all employees found that the
population standard deviation for post-secondary education was 1.13 years.

a. Estimate the standard error of the mean.

Calculations: 1.13/ square root (118) = + 0.1 and - 0.1

The standard error of the means : -0.1 to +0.1

b. Find the 95% confidence interval for the average years of post-secondary
education of all employees at the high tech company.

Z-score for 95% = 1.96

C.I = 5.2 +1.96(0.1) and C.I = 5.2 - 1.96(0.1)

C.I = 5.4 and C.I = 5.00

C.I = 5.00 to 5.4

c. Find the 98% confidence interval for the average years of post-secondary
education of all employees at the high tech company.

Z-score for 98 % = 2.05

C.I = 5.2 + 2.05(0.1) and C.I = 5.2 - 2.05(0.1)

C.I = 5.41 and C.I = 5.00

C.I = 5.00 to 5.41

3. Hypothesis Testing Z-test or T-tests (3 points): A social psychologist is interested in gender
differences in the sociability of teenagers. Using the number of good friends as an indicator
of sociability, the researcher found that females had on average 5.9 close friends (s=2.1;
N=44) and males had on average 3.8 close friends (s=1.6; N=35). Is the difference in the
sociability between males and females statistically significant? Set alpha to .02. The test
statistic obtained is 2.98.

-Step 1: State what is being compared

Population 1: The sociability of male teenagers

Population 2: The sociability of female teenagers

-Step 2: State the Null and Research Hypothesis; state if the test will be one-tailed or two-
tailed

Research Hypothesis: There will be a statistical significant difference between the sociability
of both males and females compared to one another.

Null Hypothesis: There will be no statistical difference between the sociability of both males
and females

Two tailed because we want to know if the difference between the sociability of males and
females are statistically significant, whether they are higher or lower.

-Step 3: State the Sampling Distribution (t or Z-distribution) & give the Critical value (t or z)

The sampling distribution: t-distribution

Critical Value (t) = 2.381
Df = 44+ 35 -2 = 77

-Step 4: You will be given the obtained value. Write the name of the formula you would use if
you had to calculate the obtained value.

Two Sample t-test formula

T test statistic = 2.98
 -Step 5: Make a decision and interpret the results

Retain the null hypothesis since the critical value (2.381 ) is less extreme than the t statistic
value (2.98)

4. Chi Square (3 points): A researcher is interested in the relationship between pet preferences
and social class
A) Does Social Class influence Pet Preference? Use percentages to support your answer
(NOTE: show the crosstabulation table with appropriate percentages).

No, the Social Class doesn’t influences the Pet preferences because they are both independent
variables, so they don’t impact one another.
According to this cross tabulation table, 37.6% of the lower class people prefers cats while
37.31% of the upper class prefers cats, so we don’t see a huge difference (they are very
similar) between the cat preferences. Therefore, we can conclude that the social class doesn’t
influence the Pet Preference.(See calculations/percentages below)

B) Is there a statistically significant relationship between Social Class Standing and Pet
Preference? Conduct a Chi square test of significance using the five-step model. The test
statistic is: 0.36. Set alpha to .01
Social Class Standing
Pet Preference Lower-Class Middle-Class Upper-Class
Dog 43 (32.33%) 48 (31.58%) 40 (29.85%)
Cat 50 (37.6%) 55 (36.18%) 50 (37.31%)
Other 40 (30.08%) 49 (32.24%) 44 (32.84%)

Total: lower class 133, middle class 152, upper class 134
Chi Square Test

Step 1:

Variable 1: The Social Class standing

Variable 2: Pet Preference

Step 2:

One tailed

Research Hypothesis: The social class standing and the pet preference are independent

Null Hypothesis: The social class standing and the pet preference are dependent

Step 3:

Sampling distribution: Chi square (x^2)

Critical Value = 13.277

Alpha= 0.01

Df = (3-1)(3-1) = 4

Step 4:

Formula:

Chi Square Formula

Test statistic =0.36

Step 5:

Reject the null hypothesis. Opinion on social class standing dependent on the Pet preference.

The critical value is more extreme (13.277) than the the test statistic value (0.36)

The results are statistically significant.