Statistics Project, Statistics

statistical hypotheses
Project description
Math 10 Project

What is a project?
This project consists of formulating a statistical hypotheses, collecting data to try to support the
hypotheses, interpreting the data, analyzing the data and completing a typewritten paper that
includes the following:

– an explanation of the hypotheses
– a discussion of how you collected your data
– a presentation of the data in numerical (commonly a table)
– a statistical analysis of the data (mean, standard deviation, etc)
– a discussion about whether or not your data were sufficient to support your hypotheses
– a general summary of your findings

For example, suppose that your hypothesis is that the true mean age of registered democrats is
less than the true mean age of registered republicans. To try to substantiate your hypothesis, you
would first randomly sample the ages of registered republicans and democrats or find data on the
internet making sure to site your source. Once your data are collected, you would then analyze
the data. Then you would probably construct a confidence interval for the difference between the
true mean age of registered republicans and the true mean age of registered democrats. You
would follow that up with an appropriate hypothesis test. Through this use of statistics, your
group would either conclude that there is sufficient evidence to support the hypothesis or fail to
conclude that there is sufficient evidence to support the hypothesis at a particular level of
significance.
SAMPLE PROJECT PROPOSAL:

1. R. A. Fisher, Karl Pearson, Warren Weaver
2. Our first hypothesis is that the true proportion of women who intend to transfer to a four-year
college or university after attending OEC College is greater than the corresponding proportion
of males.
Step #1
P1 = the true proportion of female OEC College students who intend to transfer to a four-year
college of university after attending OEC College
p2 = the true proportion of male OEC College students who intend to transfer to a four-year
college of university after attending OEC College
??
H0 : p1 ? p2 = 0
H1 : p1 ? p2 > 0
Our second hypothesis is that the a majority of OEC College students intend to transfer to a
four-year college or university after attending OEC College.
Step #1
p = the true proportion of OEC College students who intend to transfer to a four-year college
or university after attending OEC College
??
H0 : p = 0.5
H1 : p > 0.5
3. We will collect our data using a systematic sample of asking every fourth person who goes by
at several different campus locations (e.g. in front of the bookstore, in the Owl’s Nest, in front of
the Math Center, in the library). We will sample at least 50 women and 50 men.
Here is our questionnaire:
Gender? MALE FEMALE (CIRCLE ONE)
Do you intend to transfer to a four-year college or university after attending OEC College?
YES NO (CIRCLE ONE)
THANK-YOU FOR YOUR TIME!
Your project might be better suited for data collection on the internet.
Project Write-up:

1. A cover sheet that includes the name of the project and the names of the students participating
in the project. Up to three students can work on the same project.
2. A paper that is typewritten, double-spaced and that includes the following:
(a) An introductory paragraph that explains your project and your hypotheses.
(b) A thorough explanation of your data gathering techniques and your samples. Place your raw
data, a numerical summary of your raw data and any optional graphical displays of your raw
data. If you gave out a survey, talk about that survey here and put a copy of the survey in the
write-up. If you used a source for your data, be sure to site the source.
(c) A thoughtful and thorough analysis of whether or not your data are random and
representative of your populations. Be sure to give concise reasons supporting your position.
(d) If you do not believe that your data are random and representative of your populations,
discuss how you would have done a better job if you had been given more time and resources. In
other words, explain to me how would you have collected your data if you had had more time
and better resources.
(e) A discussion of whether or not your data supported your hypotheses. This would be a
good place to give your interpretations of your confidence intervals and the conclusions of your
hypothesis tests. Be sure to include a discussion as to whether the interpretations of your
confidence intervals are consistent with the conclusions of your hypothesis tests. Place all the
work of computing your confidence intervals and all the steps of your hypothesis tests with your
interpretations.
(f) A discussion of possible further research or consequences of your findings.
(g) A general summary of your project.