STF1093 STATISTICS FOR BIOLOGY I

TAKE HOME EXERCISE 7

Instructions:
A. Do all calculation by hand and all working steps shown are given marks. Repeat each question
(except question 4) by using software PAST (do a screenshot on the results).

B. Give your answer by performing the following steps:

i. state the null and alternative hypotheses
ii. find the critical value
iii. compute the test (calculated) value
iv. make your decision
v. summarise the results and conclude your findings, and

1. A school board official wishes to see whether there is a difference in the average age of
teachers, administrators, and support staff in the local school district. Employees are
randomly selected, and their ages are recorded as shown in the table. At α = 0.05, can the
school board member conclude that the average ages of the three groups differ?

Teachers Administrators Support staff

24 59 34
27 35 29
26 29 35
50 40 31
48 39 40
40 54 45
56

2. The grade point averages of students participating in college sports programs are
compared and the data are shown below. Using α = 0.05, conclude whether there is a
difference in the mean GPA of the three groups.

Football Basketball Hockey

3.2 3.8 2.6
2.6 3.1 1.9
2.4 2.6 1.7
2.4 3.9 2.5
1.8 3.3 1.9

3. Three different relaxation techniques are given to randomly selected patients in an effort
to reduce their stress levels. A special instrument has been designed to measure the
percentage of stress reduction in each person. The data are shown below. At a = 0.05, can
one conclude that there is a difference in the means of the percentages?

Technique I Technique II Technique III

3 12 15
 10 12 14
5 17 18
1 13 14
13 18 20
3 9 22
4 14 16

4. A researcher wishes to see whether there is any difference in the weight gains of athletes
following one of three special diets. Athletes are randomly assigned to three groups and
placed on the diet for six weeks. The weight gains (in pounds) are shown here. At a =
0.05, can the researcher conclude that there is a difference in the diets?

A computer printout for this problem is shown below. Use the p-value method and the
information in this printout to test the claim.

Diet A Diet B Diet C

3 10 8
6 12 3
7 11 2
4 14 5
8
6

Computer Printout
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE SOURCE TABLE
Source df Sum of Squares Mean Square F P-value
Bet Groups 2 101.095 50.548 7.740 0.00797
W I I Groups 11 71.833 6.530
Total 13 172.929

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
Condit N Means St Dev
diet A 4 5.000 1.826
diet B 6 10.167 2.858
diet C 4 4.500 2.646

5. Workers are randomly assigned to four machines on an assembly line. The number of
defective parts produced by each worker for one day is recorded. The data are shown
here. At a = 0.05, test the claim that the mean number of defective parts produced by the
workers is the same.

Machine 1 Machine 2 Machine 3 Machine 4

3 8 10 9
2 6 9 15
0 2 8 3
6 0 11 0
4 1 12 2
 3 9 15 0
5 7 17 1

6. A researcher wishes to see if there is a difference in the weights (in pounds) of four types
of lawnmowers. At a = 0.05, can one conclude that the weights differ?

Gas (Type A) Gas (Type B) Electric Manual

95 73 55 37
101 69 52 24
108 72 51 25
107 71 37 29
97 67 57 22
101 62 54 17
68 34 17
71 45 22
41 20
53 18
21