Math 151 , Day 37, Monday, April 28, 2008 After class mean added day 41..Hit reload .

HW Day37   Chapter 15, Signifincance testing (the "other" big topic in inference)   Read Ch. 15, first to p. 364, then to p. 376. Next: pp. 377-79, (Optional 379-80). Check: p. 381  Hypotheses: 15.26, 27.  Test statistic15.28.   P-value (one-sided) 15.31, 32. P-value (two-sided) 15.29, 30, 33.  Significance 15.34.  Test<--CI (0ptional) 15.35  Which of the answers to 35 is self-contradictory?  Which one makes logical sense? , Next, Ch. 16 to p. 396
Hand in 
Finish finding the results for your shoebox numbers, if you haven't! (see below for how)
A. Simulation of shoeboxes:  On a separate page, please! Use Applet:  P-value of a test of significance  How to.
H0: µ =20.
Ha:  µ  > 20     n = 4,   sigma = 4   (do Update. Not Reset-- Reset returns to mean 0The picture will show the sampling distribution of the mean (the Xbars) when the real mean is 20.
a)  First simulate the shoebox where the mean is actually 20.  At the bottom of the picture, enter 20 in "the truth about the mean is" box.  Do Generate Sample 10 times; each time record from the picture  the xbar and the P-value for that sample.  Make a dotplot of your xbars!
Find the number, and the proportion,  of your 10 in which the P value is < .10.   (Example:  if 2 of your 10 had P's at .10 or below, 2/10 = 20% would have the P value < .10.
b) Now simulate the shoebox where the mean is actually 24.  Leaving the top numbers the same, at the bottom of the picture, enter 24 in "the truth about the mean is" box.  Do Generate Sample 10 times; each time record from the picture the xbar and the P-value for that sample. (If the xbar is too big to show in the picture just write "big" for xbar, and record the P-value for that sample)   Notice the picture is still for the null hypothesis, but the sample values are usually "high".  Make a dotplot of your xbars!
Find the number, and the proportion,  of your 10 in which the P value is < .10.
Hand in your page, and Be ready to add your numbers and proportions to the circulating sheet on Wednesday.

p. 366, 15.3 Anemia
p. 366, 15.4 Student attitudes (15.2, was done in class, Day 35)
p. 367, 15.6 travel time
p. 367, 15.7 stating hypotheses
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Test statistic:  xbar to z
p. 368, 15.8, 15.9, 15.10  (same old examples)
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Calculating p-value (one-sided, mostly)
p. 371, 15.12, 15.13, 15.14  (Same examples).   Calculate by hand.
p. 371, 15.11, Applet.  Do the one given (two-sided), then check your answers for 15.12, 13, 14 (one-sided)  using the  Applet:  P-value of a test of significance   How? How to.

Do the rest on a separate sheet and keep it: More Setups and Calculations.  Use the Applet:  P-value of a test of significance to check your work. Use Table A (normal table) to find P-value:   For 18, 19, 37, 38, 42, 43,44, be sure to: Write down your H's. Make a rough sketch of the normal dist. when H0 is true and the direction(s) of evidence for HaWrite down your xbar, your z.  Mark your xbar and z on the sketch, shade the area which is your P.  Find your P.  Leave a line or two of space for using table C with your z's, which we'll learn how to do next time.
p. 376, 15.18 Water quality
p. 376 15.19 SAT  Check the mean you calculate in the back of the book.
p. 382, 15.37 IQ test scores (The mean from the data is 105.84)
p. 383, 15.38 & 41  hotel managers
p. 383 15.40 Sample size affects p-value  Use the Applet:  P-value of a test of significance to do both n = 18 and n = 75.  Hit "Update" between. Use the same xbar of 17 in both (below the picture).  Hit Show P.  Notice the scale changes so the xbar value appears to move "out".  Repeat, comparing n = 18 , n = 28,  n = 38.  Here the written scale on the x-axis doesn't change (so xbar stays in the same place) but the normal curve visibly narrows as n increases.
p. 383  15.42 Supreme Court

p. 383, 15.43  wrong alternative
p. 383, 15.44 the wrong p
p. 383, 15.45 Placebo effect, make hypotheses.

Read, 
to discuss
Optional 
(more practice) 
 


Stating null and alternative hypotheses 
p.340, 6.41,42 
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Exam 4's not finished--sorry!.
Final exam:
Tues. May 13, 7-10 pm (evening!)  If this is a problem for you, please email me soon.  
   Alternative--Tueday morning/afternoon??  Wed. morning/afternoon?? (I'll pick one!)
  Full exam schedule is at   http://www.wells.edu/pdfs/finals.pdf
     Registrar's page with link to this and other good stuff: http://www.wells.edu/academic/regist.htm

 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

"Statistics means never having to say you're certain."
Confidence interval Estimation made our best guess at an unknown population mean.
Testing will investigate a claim made that the unknown mean is actually a particular value.
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Ch. 15: "Significance tests use an elaborate vocabulary, but the basic idea is simple: an outcome that would "rarely" happen if a claim were true--is good evidence that the claim is NOT true." (p.363 top)

Need machinery to analyze less "obvious" results--build in effect of standard deviation and sample size

Shoeboxes (white and yellow slips): Take a sample of size 4 from each,  record, return numbers.
   I claim the mean value  for both shoeboxes is µ = 20.  Am I telling you the truth?  I can't remember for sure.  I do know that the distribution in the box is normal,  standard deviation is 4.
I do remember that if  µ is not 20, then it is greater than 20. µ > 20.
Take a sample of size 4, find xbar.   Once for each shoebox! (should have found xbar already)
How far from 20 is it?  far enough that I believe the mean is not 20??

<>Measure your xbar's distance from 20  in standard deviations of Xbar's. (That is, find z for xbar, assuming µ = 20. Note s.d. for sampling dist of xbar is 2 (why?) ).   Example:  If I got an xbar = 24,  z = (24-20)/2 = 2 s.d.'s above mean. 
Is this a far-out value of z? Look in the normal table to see how much probability is in the tail to the right of it--gives a measure of far-out-ness independent of distribution ("P-value").   Prob. above 2 is about half of 5%, or .025, more exactly (1-.9772) = .0228.   IF the mean is really 20, I would see an xbar as high as 24 (or higher) about 2 to 3 in a hundred times.  So xbar = 24 is pretty strong evidence that real mean isn't 20.
Your shoebox results:  Write your xbars (if you haven't) , z's, p-values, p<.10  (one on each pad--yellow or white) and make a dot for each on the circulating dotplot.

See Day 35 for the rest of the notes:  Brief overview:
The game:

Before taking data, define
H0: "Null hypothesis" A claim or statement about the population we would like to show is NOT true.
   Stated usually as:  A parameter = a particular value.  H0: µ =1000 hrs.  ("Average lightbulb life".)     H0: µ =20 (shoebox mean=20)
Ha: "Alternative hypothesis" A claim or statement about the population we are trying to find evidence FOR.
    Stated usually as: The parameter  is >, or <, (one-tail tests) --  or NOT = the particular value. (two-tail)
    Ha:   µ  > 1000 hrs.

Take data.  Calculate test statistic, usually based on one that estimates the parameter in the hypotheses.  For µ, test statistic is the z-score of xbar, so a big z-score number means that xbar is far from µ.
    Is it an unlikely result if  H0 is true?  Then that is evidence against H0.

Measuring the strength of the evidence against H0 (a common measuring stick for all distributions and parameters):
P-value of a test:  The probability, computed assuming that H0 is true, that the observed outcome would take a value as extreme or more extreme than what we actually observed (if we could repeat taking-data again).  p. 368. 
    The smaller the P-value, the stronger the data's evidence against H0 ( for Ha).

For a test of µ  , using xbar (sigma known), the P-value is
--the area of the tail beyond the observed xbar, in the direction of Ha (one tail)
(--or twice that area (two-tail).) We'll go over two-tail P-values in more detail Wed.
We usually calculate it by standardizing the observed xbar (assuming H0 true) and looking in the normal table. (p. 369 on)

<>Applet:  P-value of a test of significance automates this.  (Uses "raw" scale of xbars, rather than z-scores).  How to. Use as check, guide. 
                 
Continue with new material Wednesday!
Start with understanding "null and alternative hypothesis, p-value."   Those are the foundation. Then

A "Significance level" alpha is a probability level we decide on  in advance as being the "rarely" amount that will push us over into believing (well, sort of) that the H0 claim  is not true. (Historically older language than P-value)
We tend to use simple benchmark numbers for it, like .10 (1 in 10), .05 (1 in 20), .01 (1 in 100).
When the P-value is less  than (or equal to) a particular significance level alpha (say .05), we say,
    "The results are significant at the alpha = .05 level," or "The results are significant (P< .05)"
A particular scientific discipline may have a commonly accepted set of benchmarks, and language to go with it. (I think I remember .05 = "significant", .01 = "highly significant" in psychology?)
We will be less doctrinaire, use the language "significant at the alpha = ___ level." 
(However, "nobody" uses a significance level less rare  than .10, 1 in 10).


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