Question

Everyday Statistics

This question is based on the article “The Myth, the Math, the Sex,” which follows this question. Suppose that you were conducting statistical research, using ANOVA to test for a difference in the average number of sexual partners reported by men and the number reported by women.

1. What would be the response (dependent) variable in the study?

2. What would be the “treatment” or “factor” in the study?

3. What would be the null hypothesis?

4. Based on the information in the article and men’s and women’s survey responses, what would you expect the conclusion to be?

5. Near the end of the article, Dr. Gale states, “the false conclusions people draw from these surveys may have a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.” Why must the conclusions people draw from these surveys be false?

6. In your opinion, are people influenced by survey results- that is, do people shape their behavior to match what survey results claim to be “normal” (or the opposite-do they try to stand out from the norm)?

Answer 1

1. The dependent variable here is- Number of sex partners that a unit(male/female) has.

2. The treatments here are- Male and Female

3. Null Hypothesis:- Average no. of sex partners of male=Average no. of sexpartners of female.

4. Since no article is stated so we fail to reject our null hypothesis. Note here that rejecting null hypothesis falsely is much severe than accepting it falsly. So in case of no informatiin provided we assume the average sexpartners for male and female is no different