Question 1
This question concerns the analysis of the mustard seedlings experiment that you were asked to carry out in Unit 10. You will need to use Minitab to answer parts (b) and (e).
(a) In one or two sentences, describe how your experiment went; for example, mention any difficulties that you faced along the way. Then present a table of your results, similar in layout to Table 3 of Unit 10 (Subsection 3.4). Indicate clearly the units in which you made your measurements (for example, millimetres) and the measurements that correspond to seedlings whose stems were cut during their growth. Then proceed to part (b) of the question.
If, however, you were unable to collect data of your own, then state this and explain why. Instead of presenting results in a table, draw stemplots for each of the two samples of data given in Table 1, including only measurements from seedlings whose stems were cut during growth. Also, give the main reason for producing such stemplots in the context of a t-test, and comment on the shape of the stemplots relative to this reason.
Table 1 Lengths of roots (in mm) obtained in a mustard seedlings experiment
Seedlings grown in light Seedlings grown in dark
19 26 × 31 × 27 37 24 × 41
26 29 21 28 18 29 × 18 × ×
42 × 23 17 27 24 × 28 31 32
× 35 × 28 25 26 32 28 40 23
In Table 1, measurements given in bold were obtained from seedlings whose stems were cut during their growth. A cross indicates a seed which did not germinate.
To answer the remainder of this question, you should use your own data if you have them. Otherwise, use the data from Table 1.
(b) Run Minitab and type your data into columns headed Light, for lengths of roots of seedlings grown in light, and Dark, for lengths of roots of seedlings grown in the dark, for all the seedlings whose stems you cut. In your answer, provide a list of the data as it appears in your Minitab worksheet. (You should also save a copy of your worksheet in order to be able to work on it again at another time.)
Use Minitab to calculate the values of the sample variances of the two columns of data. Include a copy of the relevant Minitab output in your answer.
(c) Using the information you obtained in part (b), check whether it is reasonable to assume that the two samples come from populations whose distributions have a common variance.
(d) To investigate whether light affects root growth (when stems have been cut during growth), a t-test is to be performed on the measurements that you made. Defining and using appropriate notation, state the null and alternative hypotheses of this test.
(e) Use Minitab to perform the appropriate t-test on your data. (You should assume that the assumption of a common population variance is reasonable, regardless of the outcome of your investigation in part (c).) Include a copy of the relevant Minitab output in your answer.
What is the result of the t-test? Carefully report your conclusions concerning the question of whether light affects root growth of mustard seedlings.
(f) A reservation about your conclusions in part (e), given the way in which the experiment was designed and carried out, might be that cutting the stems could have different effects in the light and in the dark. Give two other valid reservations.
Question 2
You should not use Minitab to answer this question, but do the calculations ‘by hand’ (using a calculator), showing your work.
A guidebook claims that their suggested Walk A takes 45 minutes to complete. In order to test this claim, 18 people use the guidebook to follow the suggested route. They recorded how long, in minutes, it took each person to complete the walk. The walkers do not walk together in a group, but each walker completes the walk by themself. The results are summarised in Table 2. Table 2 Summary statistics
Walk number sample size mean standard deviation
Walk A 18 38 7
(a) What is the most appropriate version of the t-test if you want to test the null hypothesis that the underlying population mean time taken to complete the walk is what the guidebook claims it to be and the alternative hypothesis that the underlying population mean time is not what the guide claims? Justify your choice.
(b) What are the number of degrees of freedom and the 5% critical value for the most appropriate t-test applied to these data? [2] (c) Without using Minitab, calculate a 95% confidence interval for the population mean time taken to complete this walk.
(d) Based on your calculated 95% confidence interval, is it plausible that the underlying population mean time taken to complete the walk is 45 minutes as claimed by the guidebook? Justify your answer.
Question 3
Osteoporosis is a common, chronic condition that weakens bones, making them fragile and more likely to break. It develops slowly over several years and is often only diagnosed when a fall or sudden impact causes a bone to break. Drugs do not cure osteoporosis, but they may reduce the symptoms or slow down the progress of the disease. A medical research team wishes to compare the efficacy of two drugs, B1 and B2, that can be used to temporarily alleviate symptoms. It is known that these two treatments will alleviate symptoms only whilst the drug is being taken.
Consider the two designs below in turn. Explain how each of the two designs could be implemented in this context and state which you would recommend, justifying your choice. Your answer should discuss any pros and cons for each type of trial.
• A matched-pairs design
• A crossover design
Question 4
Several surveys of graduate employers have been conducted to investigate the question ‘what skills do graduate employers look for?’. These core skills are seen as ‘transferable skills’ or ‘employability skills’ and graduates are expected to provide examples demonstrating their competencies in these areas when applying to graduate schemes. Ten skills were identified with the five key core skills given in Table 3 below.
Table 3 Five core skills that graduate employers look for
A Ability to apply subject knowledge and concepts
B Good communication skills (oral and written)
C Time management and organisation
D Information gathering; interpretation and evaluation
E Adaptability
The School of Mathematics and Statistics at the Open University wanted to investigate whether extra online coaching in these skills was needed to support their students, or whether these skills were already well developed through modules taught by the department.
A study was conducted to see whether extra coaching was needed to develop these core skills. In the study, 20 pairs of students were selected from the students studying their final module(s) prior to completing their degree. The students were matched for the qualification they were registered for, the modules studied previously, age and number of years of work experience. At the start of the module(s) the 40 students were each asked to supply evidence to show how they met the five core skills listed in Table 3. The evidence of each individual was then scored on a scale between 0 and 100.
After this was done, one student selected at random from each pair received an extra set of online interactive tutorial sessions during their study. The other students were not given extra material and had only their normal study resources to work from. At the end of the academic year all 40 students were asked to resubmit their evidence about how they met the elements given in Table 3. The resubmitted evidence was then scored using the same scale as previously, and the change in the score for each student was recorded. The resulting data are to be analysed using a hypothesis test.
(a) From the hypothesis tests listed at the start of Subsection 4.4 of Unit 11, give the name of the most appropriate test for analysing these data, together with two reasons for your answer.
(b) Choose three of the core skills listed in Table 3. For each of them, give a specific example of how your skills have improved thanks to M140.
Question 5
You will need to use Minitab to answer this question. A clinical trial is being designed to compare drug A against a placebo in the treatment of a disease. The researchers want to collect more information from the patients on drug A and so have decided to use a 3 : 1 random allocation to drug A rather than a 1 : 1 random allocation. A 3 : 1 random allocation means that, for each patient, there is a 75% chance of being allocated drug A and a 25% chance of being allocated the placebo. The trial is planning to recruit 240 patients.
In order to assign the 240 patients to a treatment group, you will need to allocate patients at random so that approximately 75% of them receive drug A (group 1) and the rest are allocated to the placebo group (group 0). Run Minitab.
(a) How many patients would you expect to allocate to the placebo group?
(b) Set the seed of Minitab’s random number generator to the value 83. Why do you think that you have been asked to do this?
(c) Use the appropriate facilities of Minitab to assign each of the 240 patients to placebo (group 0) or drug A (group 1) at random, with probability 0.75 that a patient will be in the drug A group.
(i) State what method you used to allocate patients to groups. E.g. ‘I used the method described in Computer Activity X’.
(ii) How many patients are randomized to receive the placebo (group 0)?
(iii) Using worksheet row numbers as patient ID numbers, list the first ten IDs of the patients who will be assigned to the placebo group.
(d) Comment on the outcome of the allocation of patients to the placebo the group that you obtained in part (c) compared with the number you expected in part (a).
CS 340 Milestone One Guidelines and Rubric Overview: For this assignment, you will implement the fundamental operations of create, read, update,
Retail Transaction Programming Project Project Requirements: Develop a program to emulate a purchase transaction at a retail store. This
7COM1028 Secure Systems Programming Referral Coursework: Secure
Create a GUI program that:Accepts the following from a user:Item NameItem QuantityItem PriceAllows the user to create a file to store the sales receip
CS 340 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric Overview The final project will encompass developing a web service using a software stack and impleme
