Section 9.

1 Two Proportions

Ch 7 introduced methods for constructing confidence interval estimates of a population proportion,

population mean, or a population standard deviation or variance.

Ch 8 introduced methods for testing claims about a population proportion, population mean, or
population standard deviation or variance.

Both chapters involved methods for dealing with a sample from one population.

Ch 9 introduced methods for testing hypotheses and confidence interval to situations involving two
populations.
Part 1: Hypotheses testing to test the claim for 2 proportions.
Part 2: Confidence interval to test the claim for 2 proportions.

For example: In 2009, in a survey of 400 college students, more than 85% of students who think
Facebook is cool. In 2013, in a survey of 300 college students, more than 90% of students who think
Facebook is cool. Can you conclude that the proportion of people who think Facebook is cool was greater
in 2013 than in 2009? This question involved two populations; we need to apply chapter 9 methods to
compare the result.

Requirements:

1. The sample proportions are from two simple random samples that are independent. (Samples are
independent if the sample values selected from one population are not related to or somehow
naturally paired or matched with the sample values selected from the other population.)
2. For each of the two samples, there are at least 5 success and at least 5 failures. (That is, 𝑛𝑝̂ ≥ 5 and
𝑛𝑞̂ ≥ 5 for each of the two samples.)

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Notation:
For population 1, we let
𝑛1= size of the sample
𝑝1 = population proportion
𝑥1= number of success in the sample
𝑥
𝑝̂1 = 𝑛1 sample proportion in success
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𝑞̂1 = 1 − 𝑝̂1 sample proportion in failure

**The corresponding notations 𝑝2 , 𝑛2 , 𝑥2 , 𝑝̂2 , 𝑞̂2 apply to population 2.

The pooled sample proportion is denoted by 𝑝̅ and is given by

𝑥 +𝑥
𝑝̅ = 𝑛1 +𝑛2 𝑞̅ = 1 − 𝑝̅
1 2

Test statistic for two proportions

(𝑝̂1 − 𝑝̂ 2 )
𝑧=
𝑝̅ 𝑞̅ 𝑝̅ 𝑞̅
√𝑛 + 𝑛
1 2

𝑥 𝑥
𝑝̂1 = 𝑛1 𝑝̂ 2 = 𝑛2
1 2

Performing a Hypothesis test for the difference between two proportions using P-value Method
Verify the requirement.
1. Extract information 5. Distribution (Graphically)
Let 𝑝1 - population proportion...
Let 𝑝2 - population proportion…

𝑛1 =? 𝑥1 =? 𝑝̂1=?
𝑛2 =? 𝑥2 =? 𝑝̂2=?

2. Original Claim
𝑝1 ≤, ≥, =, <, >, ≠ 𝑝2
6. P-value
3. Identify the null and alternate hypothesis.
𝐻0 : 𝑝1 = 𝑝2 𝐻1 : 𝑝1 ≠ 𝑝2 Two-tailed P-value = normalcdf (lower, upper) = ?
𝐻0 : 𝑝1 ≤ 𝑝2 𝐻1 : 𝑝1 > 𝑝2 Right-tailed
𝐻0 : 𝑝1 ≥ 𝑝2 𝐻1 : 𝑝1 < 𝑝2 Left-tailed 7. Statistical Conclusion

P-value ≤ 𝛼, reject 𝐻0 .
4. Test Statistic P-value > 𝛼, fail to reject 𝐻0 .

(𝑝̂1 −𝑝̂2 ) 8. Final words.

𝑧= ̅𝑞
𝑝 ̅ 𝑝
̅𝑞̅
or Calculator
√𝑛 +𝑛
1 2 Use the chart in section 8.1
(Number 1, 2, 3, or 4 conclusions)

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Using the TI-83plus/84plus preform hypothesis testing for population proportion.
1. Press “STAT”. Arrow over to “TESTS”.
2. Press “6:2-PropZTest”. Arrow over to Stats and press “ENTER”.
3. Enter the 𝑥1 , 𝑛1 , 𝑥2, 𝑛2 , for two population.
4. Arrow down to 𝑝1 : to choose left-tailed, right-tailed or two-tailed test.
5. Arrow down to “Calculate” and Enter.

Confidence Intervals (𝒑𝟏 − 𝒑𝟐 )

𝑝̂1 𝑞̂1 𝑝̂2 𝑞̂2

Margin of error 𝐸 = 𝑧𝛼/2 √ +
𝑛1 𝑛2

The confidence interval estimates of the difference 𝑝1 − 𝑝2

(𝑝̂1 − 𝑝̂2 ) − 𝐸 < 𝑝1 − 𝑝2 < (𝑝̂1 − 𝑝̂2 ) + 𝐸

For alternate hypothesis with 𝛼 = 0.05 for two-tailed, the confidence interval is 95%.

For alternate hypothesis with 𝛼 = 0.05 for left-tailed/right-tailed, the confidence interval is 90%.

Using the TI-83plus/84plus preform confidence interval for population proportion.

1.Press “STAT”. Arrow over to “TESTS”.
2.Press “B:2-PropZInt”. Arrow over to Stats and press “ENTER”.
3. Enter the 𝑥1 , 𝑛1 , 𝑥2, 𝑛2 , for two populations.
4. Enter C-Level: .90/.95/.99
5. Arrow down to “Calculate” and Enter.

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Example 1) In the year 2002, The General Social Survey asked 1343 employed people between the ages of
18 and 50 whether they used a computer in their work, and 916 said that they did. In the year 2008, they
asked the same question of an independent sample of 615 people, and 465 said that they used a
computer at work. Assume these are two random samples from the population of employed people.
(a) Can you conclude that the proportion of people who used a computer at work was greater in 2008
than in 2002? Use the a = 0.05level. (b) Find a confidence interval. (Round to four decimal places)

We first check the assumptions: Two independent random samples. Two categories: Use a computer at
work and those who do not. Each sample contains more than 5 individuals in each category.
The assumptions are satisfied.
1.Extract Information:
Let 𝑝1 -

Let 𝑝2 -

2. Original Claim:

3. State the null and alternate hypotheses.

4. Test Statistic (Round to two decimal places)

5. Distribution (Graphically):

6. P-value: (Round to four decimal places)

7. Statistical Conclusion:

8. Final Words:

There ______________ sufficient evidence to _______________________ claim that the proportion of workers
between the ages 18 and 50 who used a Computer at work was greater in 2008 than in 2002.
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(b) Find the confidence interval. (Round to four decimal places)

Example 2) Researchers conducted a study of smartphone use among adults. A cell phone company
claimed that iPhone smartphones are more popular with whites (non-Hispanic) than with African
Americans. The results of the survey indicate that of the 232 African American cell phone owners
randomly sampled, 12 of them have an iPhone. Of the 1343 white cell phone owners randomly sampled,
135 of them own an iPhone. Test at the 5% level of significance. Is the proportion of white iPhone owners
greater than the proportion of African American iPhone owners?
1.Extract Information:

Let 𝑝1 -

Let 𝑝2 -

2. Original Claim:

3. State the null and alternate hypotheses.

4. Test Statistic (Use Calculator) (Round to two decimal places)

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5. Distribution (Graphically):

6. P-value: (Round to four decimal places)

7. Statistical Conclusion:

8. Final Words:

There __________ sufficient evidence to ____________________________ claim that a larger proportion of white cell
phone owners use iPhones than African Americans.

(b) Find the confidence interval. (Round to four decimal places)

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Example 3) Among 343 women surveyed, 15 worked the graveyard shift. Among 294 men surveyed, 27
worked the graveyard shift. The samples are independent and were gathered using simple random
sampling. Use the critical value method and a 1% significance level to test the claim that the proportion of
women working the graveyard shift is less than the proportion of men working the graveyard shift.

1.Extract Information:

2. Original Claim:

3. State the null and alternate hypotheses.

4. Distribution (Graphically):

5. Critical value(s): (Round to three decimal places)

6. Test Statistic (Use Calculator) (Round to four decimal places)

7. Statistical Conclusion:

8. Final Words:

There _______________ sufficient evidence __________________________ claim that the proportion of women
working the claim that the graveyard shift is less than the proportion of men working the graveyard shift.

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(b) Find the confidence interval. (Round to four decimal places)