Identifying Appropriate Test Statistic Involving Population Proportion

There are certain situations when the data to be analyzed involve

population proportion or percentage. The following are some of examples
that show this condition.

- A politician wants to know the percentage of his constituents who

approve of his policy on educational programs and reforms.
- A manufacturing company is interested on determining the proportions of
defective products in the assembly line.
- A set of randomly selected employees were asked to determine the
percentage of their incomes spent on food per month.
- In a sample of 50 students, there are 15 part-timers. (This situation
shows proportion.)
- Fifty percent (50%) of the restaurants in the sample generate more than a
third of their weekly sales of juices.
It is noticeable that the cases above used percentage of the
population. In the previous modules, you have learned how to test
hypothesis concerning population mean and sample mean. This time, you
will learn how to test hypothesis involving population proportion. To be able
to do so, the z-test statistics for population proportion will be applied
particularly when the Central Limit Theorem is to be used. However, as
mentioned before, this lesson will just serve as a preparation.

It is important that you get yourselves be acquainted to different

terms that you will encounter throughout this module. The activity below
will help you to check your understanding and be familiarized about these
terms.
Activity 1:

Directions: Identify the word/s being described by the statements in the

box. Copy the letters of your answer on the corresponding columns on the
table below. Then, answer the questions that follow.

1. It is an entire group of people, objects, or events which all have

at least one characteristic in common and must be defined
specifically and unambiguously.
2. It refers to any part of a population regardless of whether it is a
representative or not.
3. It refers to a part of a population with a particular attribute,
expressed as a fraction, decimal, or percentage of the whole
population.
1
4. It is the proportion of individuals in a sample sharing a certain
trait.
 1 2 3 4

Answer the following questions. Write your answer on a separate sheet of

paper.

1. Find a word that begins with p and is synonymous to your answer in

the table above.
2. Which One Doesn’t Belong? Identify the group of words that are
most likely NOT synonymous to proportion.

2
Activity 2:

Directions: Based on the situation above, match the questions in Column A

to their corresponding answers in Column B. Copy and use colored pens in
connecting the dots.

 














Dealing with various problems or situations oftentimes leads to

confusion. In this section, take note that problems involving proportions,
unlike in population mean and sample mean, never use terms such as
“average” and “mean” but “percentage” instead. Let us first define what
population proportion is.
Population Proportion and Sample Proportion
 Population proportion (p) is a part of the population with a particular
attribute or trait expressed as a fraction, decimal, or percentage of the whole
population. In symbol:

𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞

p=
𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

p = %

Notice that in Matapat City, 10% (percentage is used) of the entire

residents are senior citizen. Therefore, the percentage of the senior citizen
residents represents the population proportion or percentage which
makes p = 10% = 0.10.
Similarly, among these senior citizens, what percentage owns a cell
phone? That illustrates the sample proportion, in symbol 𝒑 ̂ (read as “p
hat”) which is computed as follows:

[Link] senior citizen residents with cell phone

̂=
𝒑
[Link] senior citizen residents
421
̂=
𝒑
500
 ̂ = 0.84
𝒑
Sometimes, the sample proportion ( ̂𝒑 ) is stated directly, such as:
- “20% of the respondents” = 0.20
- “5% of the defective bulbs” = 0.05
- “50% of the Grade 12 students” = 0.50

On the other hand, there are cases where we still need to calculate 𝒑̂.
Examples of these kinds are:
- “70 out of 200 residents are married.”
- “150 out of 500 listeners are interviewed.”
- “10 out of 1000 bulbs are defective.”
In this case, we need to solve for the value of the sample proportion
̂ (read as “p hat”).
𝒑
Sample proportion ( 𝒑̂) is the ratio of the number of elements in the
sample possessing the characteristics of interest over the number of
elements in the sample or n. It is computed by the formula:

𝒑=
𝒏
𝒙
𝑝̂̂ =
𝒏

where: ̂ is the proportion of the number of successes in n samples

𝒑
and read as “p hat”.
x represents the number of “successes” in n samples; and
n represents the size of the sample.

The example below will help you understand better how we can easily
estimate the value of the sample proportion.

Illustrative Example:
For a class project, a Grade 12 STEM student wants to estimate the
percentage of students in his school who are registered voters. From 45%
Grade 12 students, he surveys 500 students and finds that 200 are
registered voters. Determine the value of p and compute for the sample
proportion.
Solution:
The population proportion is the rate or percent used from the entire
Grade 12 students. Therefore:
Population Proportion, p = 45% = 0. 45
To find the sample proportion ( 𝒑̂), identify the ff:
Surveyed Grade 12 students = n = 500
Registered Grade 12 students = x = 200

Therefore, the sample proportion will be computed as follows:

number of registered Grade 12 students
Sample Proportion, 𝒑
̂=
number of Grade 12 students
200
̂=
𝒑
500
̂ = 0.4
𝒑

Using the Central Limit Theorem in Testing Population Proportion

When testing situations involving proportion, a percentage, or a
probability, the following assumptions must be considered:
1. The conditions for binomial experiment are met. That is, there is a fixed
number of independent trials with constant probabilities and each trial
has two outcomes that we usually classify as “success” (p) and
“failure” (q). The sum of p and q is 1. Hence, we can write p + q = 1 or
q = 1 – p.
 2. The conditions np ≥ 5 and nq ≥ 5 are both satisfied so that the
binomial distribution of sample proportion can be approximated by a
normal distribution with 𝜇 = 𝑛𝑝̂ and 𝜎 = √𝑛𝑝̂𝑞. (However, the specific
number varies from source to source, some authors use 10 instead of 5
depending on how good an approximation one wants.)
Likewise, the second assumption served as the basis to determine
whether the sample size from the population proportion is sufficiently large
or not. Remember that this time, the condition that sample be large is not n
to be at “least 30” but it should satisfy the second assumption. For a large
size of sample proportions, the Central Limit Theorem (CLT) can be used.
Bear in mind that if the sample size is sufficiently large, then the mean of
the random sample from a population has a sampling distribution that is
approximately normal, even when the original distribution is normally
distributed and n ≥ 30.
Now, let us check the assumptions from the previous situation:
1. It is evident that the responses have only two outcomes: “registered
voter” (success) or “not registered voter” (failure). Therefore, the first
assumption is met.
2. To be able to satisfy the second condition, we find the hypothesized
value of the population proportion p = 0.45 while n = 500. To get q, q
= 1 – p which makes q = 1 – 0.45 = 0.55.

Through substitution, it shows that the second assumption is also

met, since:
np ≥ 5 and nq ≥ 5
500 (0.45) ≥ 5 and 500 (0.55) ≥ 5
225 ≥ 5 and 275 ≥ 5

Since we have shown that np ≥ 5 and nq ≥ 5, all conditions are met

where the sample size is truly large enough to use CLT. In this condition,
the test statistic to be used is the z-test statistic for proportions denoted by
Zcom or the computed z-value.
The z-Test Statistic for Population Proportion
Recall the z-score formula to be z = 𝑥̅ − 𝜇𝑥̅
𝜎𝑥̅
With np ≥ 5 and nq ≥ 5 and with the
𝑝̂𝑞
standard deviation of sample proportion be √
𝑛

Substituting 𝑝̂̂ for 𝑥̅

p for 𝜇𝑥̅
𝑝̂𝑞
and √ for 𝜎𝑥̅
𝑛
 Therefore, the formula for the value of z-test statistic for population
proportion would be:

Remember this formula because you are going to use this in Module
12 where the actual computation for the test statistic involving population
proportion will be held.

Activity 1:
Directions: In each item, complete the set of solutions.
1. The iCare Center for Internet & Society at Kaliwanagan Province
recently conducted a study analyzing the privacy management habits
of 80% teen internet users. In a group of 50 teens, 13 are reported to
have more than 500 friends on Facebook. Determine the value of p
and sample proportion 𝒑̂.
Solution:
𝒙
𝒑=
𝒏
𝒑=
𝒑=

2. A student polls his school to see if students in Matapat Integrated

High School are pro or against the new legislation regarding the
prohibition of the use of cell phones in classroom. From 65% of the
students in the school, she surveys 600 students and finds that 480
 are against the new legislation. Determine the value of p and the
sample proportion 𝒑̂.
Solution:
𝒙
𝒑=
𝒏
𝒑=
𝒑=

3. A survey of 2500 women between the ages of 15 and 50 in Kalinisan

City found that 28% of those surveyed relied on the pill for birth
control. The research shows that 25% of the population are using the
pill for birth control. Determine the value of p and the sample
proportion 𝒑̂.
Solution:
𝒙
𝒑=
𝒏
𝒑=

4. A poll taken prior to election day finds that 45% registered voters
intend to vote for Mayumi Caliwanagan as barangay chairperson of
Brgy. Kapatagan. A concerned citizen surveyed that 380 out of 700
registered voters favored for Mayumi. Determine the value of p and
the sample proportion 𝒑̂.
Solution:
𝒙
𝒑=
𝒏
𝒑=
𝒑=

5. A survey to the pet owners in Green Village is taken and 40% of those
surveyed say they have dogs as their pet for protection for self/family.
A group of 180 pet owners are interviewed and 100 said that they
have dogs for protection of self/family. Determine the value of p and
the sample proportion 𝒑̂.
Solution:
𝒙
𝒑=
𝒏
𝒑=
𝒑=