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Sociology 592 - Research Statistics I Exam 1 September 27, 2002

This document contains instructions and questions for an exam in research statistics. It provides 4 multiple choice and short answer questions, asking students to perform statistical calculations and tests, interpret probabilities, confidence intervals, and statistical significance. Students are advised to show work but not spend excessive time on any single problem. Partial credit may be awarded.

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32 views3 pages

Sociology 592 - Research Statistics I Exam 1 September 27, 2002

This document contains instructions and questions for an exam in research statistics. It provides 4 multiple choice and short answer questions, asking students to perform statistical calculations and tests, interpret probabilities, confidence intervals, and statistical significance. Students are advised to show work but not spend excessive time on any single problem. Partial credit may be awarded.

Uploaded by

stephen562001
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Sociology 592 - Research Statistics I

Exam 1
September 27, 2002

Where appropriate, show your work - partial credit may be given. (On the other hand, don't
waste a lot of time on excess verbiage.) Do not spend too much time on any one problem. It is
legitimate (and probably essential) to refer to results that have previously been proven in class or
homework, without re-proving them - for example, you wouldn't need to prove that P(-1.96
Z 1.96) = .95, since we have already shown that in class. Likewise, you are free to refer to
anything that was demonstrated in the homework or handouts.

1. (5 points each, 20 points total). Indicate whether the following statements are true or
false. If you think the statement is false, indicate how the statement could be corrected. For
false statements, do not just say that you could substitute not equals for equals. For example, the
statement P(Z 0) = .7 is false. To make it correct, don't just say P(Z 0) <> .7, instead say
P(Z 0) = .5 or P(Z .525) = .7.

A. V(5X) = 5 * V(X)

B. P (Z .84) = .79954586.

C. If E(X2) = 30 and E(X) = -5, then V(X) = 55.

D. If a fair coin is tossed 5 times, there is a 50% of getting exactly 3 heads.

2. (10 points each, 30 points total) Answer three of the following. The answers to most of
these are fairly straightforward, so do not spend a great deal of time on any one problem.
NOTE: I will give up to 5 points extra credit for each additional problem you do correctly.

A. X = 7, N = 14. Determine the 95% confidence interval when

a. = 20

b. = 15

B. Here are the results from a previous cohorts first exam in statistics. Compute the
mean and variance of the scores. There were 10 Sociology Students in the class.

Sociology 592, Exam 1, September 27, 2002 Page 1


Score
74
83
84
92
93
95
97
98
104
106

C. A company has been deluged with dozens of job applications. Only those
candidates scoring in the top third on an aptitude test will be hired. If Scores ~ N(80, 102), how
high does your score have to be for you to get hired?

D. It is October 26, 2002. The undefeated Notre Dame football team has continued
its amazing success story, winning each of its last three games with 50 yard field goals in the
closing seconds. Today, however, it faces its toughest challenge of the season: Florida State
University.
The Irish coaches estimate that, if they can defeat Florida State, there is a 90% chance
that Notre Dame will get to play in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). But, if they lose,
NDs chances of being in the BCS drop to 50%. They further estimate that there is a 15%
chance that they will lose to Florida State and also play in the BCS.
What is the probability that Notre Dame will beat Florida State? What is the probability
that Notre Dame will play in the BCS?

E. A polling firm reports that President Bushs foreign policy is supported by 70%
of the American public. The firm further reports that the (approximate) 99% confidence interval
for Bushs approval is .582 p .818. What was the sample size used in the study?

3. (25 points) A recent study done in Finland suggests that stressful events have a bigger
impact on mens health than they do on womens. According to the synopsis of the report
printed on the WebMD web pages (http://content.health.msn.com/content/article/1685.53485)

The study found men who suffered a stressful life event were more likely than women to miss work due to
illness in the following months Interpersonal problems, financial difficulties, and violence among men
were linked to psychological problems, such as anxiety, mental distress, and lack of coherence. Financial
difficulties and violence were also associated with heightened use of cigarettes and alcohol, which was
thought to lead to sick days. For women, none of these events increased the likelihood of a sick leave.

A researcher in the United States has decided to replicate this study. Data are collected from
1000 men and 1000 women who had experienced major stressful life events in the past six
months. Each respondent is coded as either having missed work because of illness or not having

Sociology 592, Exam 1, September 27, 2002 Page 2


missed work. In addition, the support networks (number of people the respondent talks to
about their problems) is measured. Support networks are classified as large or small. She
finds that 60% of men, but only 40% of women, became ill and missed work after experiencing
stressful events. She also finds that 70% of men have small support networks, while 60% of all
women have large support networks. Finally, she found that 200 men and 200 women had small
support networks and did not miss work.
a. (10 pts) Complete the following table, Remember, there were 1000 men and 1000
women in this study.

Male Female

Income/GPA Small Large Small Large


support support support support
network network network network

Became ill and


missed work
Did not miss work
1000 1000

b. (5 pts) What percentage of those who missed work had small support networks?

c. (10 pts) As these figures show, men tend to have smaller support networks than
do women, and those with smaller support networks are more likely to get ill after stressful
events and miss work. Suppose that men had the same support network distribution as women
did, i.e. 60% of men had large support networks. Suppose further that it continued to be the case
that men maintained their network-specific illness rates. What percentage of men would then
become ill and miss work after stressful events? Based on these results, do you think differences
in networks explain much of the difference in stress-related illness between men and women, or
does it explain relatively little?

4. (25 points) A stock broker company claims that, despite recent rough economic
conditions, only 30% of its customers lost money last year. Angry investors suspect otherwise.
A random sample of 70 investors is taken, and it is discovered that 30 lost money last year. Test
the companys claim at the .01 level of significance. Be sure to indicate:

(a) The null and alternative hypotheses - and whether a one-tailed or two-tailed test is
called for.
(b) The appropriate test statistic
(c) The critical region
(d) The computed value of the test statistic
(e) Your decision - should the null hypothesis be rejected or not be rejected? Why?

Sociology 592, Exam 1, September 27, 2002 Page 3

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