Stat 301 – Week 5 Assignments

Upcoming:

After Monday’s class you can start thinking about mini-project 2 which focuses on taking an actual random sample! As well as Lab 3 (due 10/28).

Due Tuesday 10/21

· Submit PP 3.1.1 (p. 180-1) in Blackboard

Due Thursday 10/23

· Submit PP 3.3.1 (p. 223) in Blackboard

· Read p. 280-284

Due Friday 10/24

· Submit PP 4.2.3 (p. 301) in Blackboard

HW 4 – Due Friday 10/24

1) Complete the “Mid-quarter Feedback” survey in Blackboard.

Note: This is a Blackboard survey not exam, meaning Blackboard will tell me that you have completed it but I will in no way be able to match your responses to your name. You can find a link to this survey on the Assignments page. Recall the following hints if you have trouble typing into the Blackboard text boxes.

Technical issue: If the survey does not let you type into the text boxes (this seems to be mostly an issue with Internet Explorer 7):

· First see whether you have a white or yellow bar across the top of the webpage (under the menu bar).

If you click on that, you can select “Run active control,” then it should allow you to enter your responses.

· If that doesn’t work, click here to add Blackboard to your list of trusted sites. If this still does not work, then contact Blackboard Support.

2) Investigation 3.1.5 (p. 196)

3) Practice problem 3.1.11 (p. 199)

4) Recently, a the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that recitation of the phrase “one nation under God” during the pledge of allegiance in public schools violated the U.S. Constitution, sparking a public outcry and currently a debate in front of the Supreme Court. The 2003 First Amendment Survey, conducted by the First Amendment Center and the American Journalism Review June 3-15, 2003, asked 1,000 adults the following question:

Many public schools require teachers to lead students in recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, which includes the phrase “one nation under God,” although students are generally permitted to opt out of reciting the pledge if they so choose. In your opinion, does that school practice violate the constitutional principle of separation of church and state?

In the sample, 26% of respondents said yes, 68% said no, and 5% said “don’t know” or refused to answer. A report on the overall survey can be found at http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/PDF/SOFA.2003.pdf

(a) Read the first two paragraphs of the methodology section (p. 42). Based on this information:

- Identify the population

- Identify the sampling frame

- Identify the sampling method (e.g., simple random sample, stratified sample, …)

- Discuss one of the methods used by the researchers to reduce non-sampling bias

- Discuss one of the methods used by the researchers to reduce sampling bias

(b) If we consider whether someone responded yes to this question as our response variable, define the parameter and statistic for this question. (Either give a numerical value, if possible, or else describe in words.)

(c) Suppose we had 950 respondents (with 260 saying yes) and we treat this as a simple random sample. Is the binomial approximation to the hypergeometric distribution valid here (see p. 250)? Explain.

(d) Carry out a test of significance to decide whether more than one-quarter of adult Americans (in 2003) feel saying the pledge violates the constitutional principle of separation of church and state. (Hint: If the approximation is valid, use the binomial distribution; otherwise, use the hypergeometric distribution.) Be sure to state the hypotheses, p-value, and conclusion, including any relevant technology output.

5) Exercise #7 (p. 265)

6) Exercise #20 (p. 389)