Elementary Statistics – Group work 1st June 2023

Group Gold

1. In the population, the average IQ is 100 with a standard deviation of 15. A team of scientists
want to test a new medication to see if it has either a positive or negative effect on intelligence, or
not effect at all. A sample of 30 participants who have taken the medication has a mean of 140.
Did the medication affect intelligence?

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2. A Telecom service provider claims that individual customers pay on an average 400 rs. per
month with standard deviation of 25 rs. A random sample of 50 customers bills during a given
month is taken with a mean of 250 and standard deviation of 15. What to say with respect to the
claim made by the service provider? (z-test)

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3. Researchers are interested in the mean age of a certain population.  A random sample of 10
individuals drawn from the population of interest has a mean of 27.  Assuming that the
population is approximately normally distributed with variance 20,can we conclude that the
mean is different from 30 years ? (α=0.05) . If the p - value is 0.0340 how can we use it in making
a decision?

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4. Among 157 African-American men ,the mean systolic blood pressure was 146 mm Hg with a
standard deviation of 27. We wish to know if on the basis of these data, we may conclude that the
mean systolic blood pressure for a population of African-American is greater than 140. Use α=0.01

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 Group Silver

1. Resting heart rate is known to be 71 beats per minute on average, with a standard deviation of
4 beats per minute. A set of researchers believe that heart rate will increase in men when they are
waiting to go in to a job interview. To test this hypothesis, a group of 9 men attending job
interviews are fitted with a wireless heart rate monitor to wear on their chest in the hour
preceding their interviews. Their average heart rates over this hour are shown in the table below.

participant Heart rate (bmp

1 80
2 74
3 73
4 72
5 78
6 75
7 70
8 74
9 69

a) Should a z-test or a t test be used to check if there is significant evidence to suggest heart rate
increases in men while they are waiting to attend a job interview?

b) Conduct the test at the 5% level and interpret your result.

c) Calculate a 90% confidence interval for the population mean.

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2. Previous research has found an auditory detection threshold of 3.24 dB for a certain auditory
stimulus, with a standard deviation of 1.22 dB. This research used the method of constant stimuli.
Using a staircase method with 16 participants, the auditory detection threshold for the same
stimulus is found to be 2.89 dB. Is there any evidence using the new method to suggest the
original result was incorrect?

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3. A researcher reads a paper introducing a new test of executive function. The authors of the
paper had tested 30 healthy volunteers and found that on average they score 51 on the new test.
The researcher believes that patients with schizophrenia will score less than the normal average
on this test of executive function. They test 22 patients with schizophrenia. The average score for
the patients is 39 with a standard deviation of 4.3. Is there significant evidence at the 5 % level to
support the researcher’s claim?
 Group Bronze

1. A psychology student, Sarah, is giving out sleep diaries to her university friends to monitor the
number of hours of sleep they have each night. Sarah believes that university students sleep for
6 hours per night on average. Below is the data that they collected. The number of hours sleep
per night for each student was averaged over a one month monitoring period. Is there any
evidence to suggest that Sarah’s belief is incorrect? t-test

1 7.2
2 8.7
3 5.4
4 6.1
5 5.6
6 6.7
7 5.9
8 6.3
9 7
10 4.2

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2. A researcher reads a paper introducing a new test of executive function. The authors of the
paper had tested 30 healthy volunteers and found that on average they score 51 on the new test.
The researcher believes that patients with schizophrenia will score less than the normal average
on this test of executive function. They test 22 patients with schizophrenia. The average score for
the patients is 39 with a standard deviation of 4.3. Is there significant evidence at the 5 % level to
support the researcher’s claim? (t-test)

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3. A visual research lab has purchased a digital colour blindness test from a company. Before
they can use the test in their research, they must ensure it is properly calibrated. To do this they
must check that they get the same results as the company when testing participants with no
colour deficiencies. The company states that participants with healthy colour vision will score 15
on the test on average. The research lab tests 13 participants with healthy colour vision. On
average they score 12 with a standard deviation of 3.6. Is their machine properly calibrated? (t
test)
 Group Platinum

1. Suppose we want to test the effectiveness of a program designed to increase scores on the
quantitative section of the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). We test the program on a group of 8
students. Prior to entering the program, each student takes a practice quantitative GRE; after
completing the program, each student takes another practice exam. Based on their performance,
was the program effective? Use both t-test Each subject contributes 2 scores: repeated measures
design:

Student Before Program After Student Before Program After Student Before Program After
Program Program Program
1 520 555
2 490 510
3 600 585
4 620 645
5 580 630
6 560 550
7 610 645
9 480 520

2. Mike gave the SAT math test to a simple random sample of 500 seniors from Illinois.

These students had a mean score of 461 ( x ). Is this good evidence that the mean for all

Illinois seniors is > 450. σ = 100 (z-test)

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3. The level of calcium in the blood of healthy, young adults varies with a mean of 9.5 mg per
deciliter and a SD of 0.4. A clinic in rural Illinois measures the blood calcium level of 180 healthy
pregnant women and finds x = 9.57mg. Is this an indication that the mean calcium level in this
population differs from 9.5mg? (z-test)

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