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Reading vs. Writing Scores Analysis

The document presents a statistical analysis comparing reading and writing scores among students, concluding no significant difference based on a paired t-test. It also examines city mileage differences between manual and automatic transmission cars, finding that manual cars have significantly higher MPG. The analysis includes hypotheses, assumptions, test statistics, and references to data sources.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
15 views5 pages

Reading vs. Writing Scores Analysis

The document presents a statistical analysis comparing reading and writing scores among students, concluding no significant difference based on a paired t-test. It also examines city mileage differences between manual and automatic transmission cars, finding that manual cars have significantly higher MPG. The analysis includes hypotheses, assumptions, test statistics, and references to data sources.

Uploaded by

seraphmuinde
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© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MATHS ASSIGNMENT

STATISTICS INFERENCE

MATH 1281-01

UNIT 4
Part 1: Reading and Writing Scores Analysis

(a) Hypotheses

To determine whether students perform differently in reading and writing, we define the

hypotheses as:

Null Hypothesis (H₀): There is no difference in the mean reading and writing scores.

H₀: μ_read = μ_write

Alternative Hypothesis (H₁): There is a difference in the mean reading and writing

scores.

H₁: μ_read ≠ μ_write

This sets up a two-tailed paired t-test since each student has both a reading and a writing

score.

(b) Checking Assumptions

Three conditions for a paired t-test are:

Random Sampling: The dataset is a random sample of 200 students (OpenIntro, 2024).

Independence: Each student's performance is independent of others.

Approximately Normal Differences: The histogram of differences (reading - writing) is

roughly symmetric and unimodal, and with a large sample size (n = 200), the t-test is robust.

Hence, conditions for the t-test are satisfied.


(c) Hypothesis Test

Given:

Mean difference x̄ = -0.545

Standard deviation of the differences s = 8.887

Sample size n = 200

t = -0.545 / (8.887 / sqrt(200)) ≈ -0.545 / 0.6285 ≈ -0.87

With a p-value of 0.39, we fail to reject the null hypothesis at the 0.05 significance level.

Conclusion.

There is no statistically significant difference in average reading and writing scores.

(d) Possible Error

If there is an actual difference and we failed to detect it, we may have committed a Type

II error—failing to reject a false null hypothesis.

(e) Confidence Interval

Given that the p-value is greater than 0.05, a 95% confidence interval for the mean

difference would include 0, consistent with the conclusion of no significant difference.

Part 2: Transmission Type and City Mileage

We now examine whether the average city miles per gallon (MPG) differs between cars

with manual and automatic transmissions.


(1) Hypotheses

Null Hypothesis (H₀): μ_automatic = μ_manual

Alternative Hypothesis (H₁): μ_automatic ≠ μ_manual

This is a two-sample t-test.

(2) Summary Statistics

From the EPA dataset:

- Automatic: x̄ ₁ = 16.12, s₁ = 3.58, n₁ = 26

- Manual: x̄ ₂ = 19.85, s₂ = 4.51, n₂ = 26

(3) Test Statistic

t = (16.12 - 19.85) / sqrt((3.58²/26) + (4.51²/26)) ≈ -3.73 / 1.129 ≈ -3.30

With degrees of freedom ≈ 48 (Welch's approximation).

(4) Conclusion

Given a p-value of 0.0029, we reject the null hypothesis.

Conclusion

There is strong statistical evidence that manual transmission cars have higher average city

MPG compared to automatic transmission cars (OpenIntro, 2024).


References

OpenIntro. (2024). OpenIntro Statistics (4th ed.). OpenIntro. [Link]

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2024). Fuel Economy Data.


[Link]

Common questions

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The statistical evidence from the EPA dataset significantly influences the conclusions about car transmission types. The calculated test statistic and low p-value provide strong evidence that rejects the null hypothesis, supporting the claim that manual transmission cars achieve higher average city MPG compared to automatic cars. This empirical evidence from EPA data substantiates differences in fuel efficiency attributed to transmission type .

The statistical findings that manual transmission cars have higher average city MPG than automatic transmissions might influence consumer decisions by steering environmentally conscious individuals or those seeking cost efficiency towards manual cars. This insight into fuel efficiency can guide purchase considerations based on long-term fuel cost savings and environmental impact, particularly as fuel prices fluctuate .

The conclusion that manual transmission cars have higher average city MPG than automatic cars is supported by the p-value of 0.0029 from a two-sample t-test, which is significantly lower than the 0.05 threshold, leading to rejection of the null hypothesis. This indicates strong statistical evidence against the null hypothesis of equal means .

The 95% confidence interval for the mean difference in reading and writing scores would include 0, as suggested by the p-value being greater than 0.05. This inclusion of 0 aligns with the hypothesis test result, which also failed to reject the null hypothesis. Consequently, both the confidence interval and test conclude that there is no significant difference in mean scores .

The p-value in the test comparing reading and writing scores is 0.39, which is greater than the significance level of 0.05, leading to the failure to reject the null hypothesis. This concludes that there is no statistically significant difference in mean reading and writing scores. In contrast, the p-value for comparing city MPG between manual and automatic transmissions is 0.0029, which is less than 0.05, leading to rejection of the null hypothesis. Consequently, this provides strong statistical evidence that manual transmission cars have higher average city MPG than automatic ones .

The appropriate statistical test for comparing the mean reading and writing scores of students is a two-tailed paired t-test. This test is suitable because the data involve paired observations, with each student having both a reading and a writing score. Additionally, the test accounts for the paired nature of the data by evaluating the differences within each pair. The conditions for this test are satisfied due to the large sample size (n = 200), random sampling, independence of observations, and approximately normal distribution of differences .

The hypothesis comparing the average city miles per gallon (MPG) between manual and automatic car transmissions is considered a two-sample t-test because it involves two distinct and independent groups: cars with manual transmissions and cars with automatic transmissions. Unlike a paired t-test, the observations in one group do not naturally pair with observations in the other, making them independent samples, which is a key criterion for using a two-sample t-test .

Welch's approximation is used for degrees of freedom in the analysis of city MPG between different transmission types due to the possibility of unequal variances between the two samples. It is a robust method that adjusts the degrees of freedom based on the sample sizes and variances, providing a more accurate test statistic in situations where equal variance assumption does not hold, as is considered in this analysis .

If the null hypothesis for reading and writing scores was incorrectly retained, a Type II error might have occurred. This type of error happens when a false null hypothesis is not rejected, indicating that there is a real difference in mean scores that the test failed to detect .

For the paired t-test comparing reading and writing scores, the assumptions are random sampling, independence of observations, and approximately normal distribution of differences. These are satisfied in the analysis as: the dataset is a random sample; performances are independent; and the histogram of differences is symmetric and unimodal, with a 200-student sample size providing robustness to normality deviations .

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