Mary Weeks

Individual Skittles Term Project

Data:
Candy
Red
Orange
Yellow
Color
Single
16
8
13
Bag
Class
242
234
252
Count
Skittles Count by Color for 2.17-Ounce Bag

Green

Purple

12

14

240

228

Total Candies in my bag= 63

Total number of bags collected by class= 20
Total number of candies in sample collected by class= 1196
Mean number of candies per bag= 59.8
Std. Deviation=3.33

Reflection:
The data from my own bag of skittles is consistent with the count
of skittles from the entire class. My lowest number was the amount of
orange candies. The class total seems to have a slightly lower amount
of orange candies as well. The graph that I have created is what I
expected to see. I imagined that there would be an evenly amount of
skittles colors distributed.

Visual Representation:

Reflection:
1. While examining the frequency histogram that I made for the total
number of
candies per bag for our class sample, I saw a loosely normal
distribution. It started lower, increased to a maximum, and then
decreased again. I use the word loosely, because it was not strictly
symmetrical. I was expecting to see a normal distribution from our
class sample. I would expect that the Skittle manufactures try to place
an even amount of Skittles in each bag. I had 63 candies in my own
bag of Skittles; this is comparable with the other 20 bags of Skittles
collected from the class. The class mean was 59.8, and had a standard
deviation of about 3.3. Therefore, my own Skittle bag was within one
standard deviation of the mean.
2. Categorical data is information that has been grouped together. It is
often better

understood when information has been divided into categories. For

example, you could represent someones blood type with categorical
data. You are dividing it into categories of A, B, O, and AB. Quantitative
data differs from categorical data, because it is expressed by numbers.
Quantitative data requires a measuring scale. Therefore, this type of
data can be ordered, and the frequency can be counted.
A pie chart and a bar chart may be the best graphs to fully illustrate
categorical
data. They allow the viewer a better view of the different categories. It
is also helpful in expressing which frequency is the highest. I would use
frequency histograms or boxplots when expressing quantitative data.
Both of these types of graphs are helpful in determining the shape of
the distribution of data. When working with numerical data, it makes
more sense to display it his way. When working with categorical data,
the focus would be on finding the mode, to see which category has the
highest frequency. However, with quantitative data, it would be more
revealing to calculate the shape of distribution, mean, and standard
deviation.
Confidence Intervals:
1) 99% confidence interval estimate for the population proportion of yellow candies:
0.18 < p < 0.24
2) 95% confidence interval estimate for the population proportion of mean number of
candies per bag:
58.242 < u < 61.358
3) 98% confidence interval estimate for the population standard deviation of number of
candies per bag:

2.413 < std. dev. < 5.254

Reflection:
Confidence intervals are used in statistics to help estimate a
population parameter. From the data of a sample you can estimate
what the population parameters would be if the experiment were
repeated many times. For instance, if you knew the mean of a sample
you could estimate what the mean of the population would be for the
subject in question, by using confidence intervals to show that the
population mean would be between the lower and upper limit of the
confidence interval. So, if you were looking for a 98% confidence level,
than you knew that we are 98% confident that the true population
mean is within the confidence intervals.
Hypothesis Testing:
1. The main purpose of a hypothesis test is to either reject or fail to
reject the inferred hypothesis from the sample data. So, if you
have statistical summary of the sample data, you may want to
know if those statistics apply to the larger population the sample
comes from. One way to do that is by performing a hypothesis
test on either the proportion of the population, or the mean of
the population. Once you have performed the hypothesis test,
you can determine if the inference made for the population is
likely or unlikely, by either rejecting the null hypothesis or failing
to reject the hypothesis.
2. Testing the claim that 20% of Skittles are red:

H 0 : p=.20
H 1 : p .20
=0.05
z=.2024
p=.8396
0.8396>0.05
Fail to reject null hypothesis
3. Testing the claim that the mean number of Skittles in a bag is 55:
H 0 : =55
H 1 : 55
=0.01
t= 6.4463
Critical Value=2.861
Fail to reject null hypothesis
4. The hypothesis test on the proportions does not meet the
requirements. N*P is less than 5. It could also be argued that our
class sample of skittles candy may not be a simple random
sample. The hypothesis test on the population mean does not
meet the requirements because the sample may not be a simple
random sample. However if you do view the sample as random
than it does meet all the requirements. Even though the sample
size is less than 30 it is relatively normally distributed.
5. Population Proportion Test- There is not sufficient sample
evidence to support the claim that the proportion of red candies
is 20%, because p-value is greater than alpha. Population Mean
Test- There is not sufficient sample evidence to support the claim

that the mean number of candies is 55, because t-value does not
fall into critical region.

Project Reflection:
The term project for the Skittles analysis has taught me about
what goes in to gathering statistical information, and how to interpret
the findings. I have a better understanding on how important it is to
get a random sample, rather than other ways of collecting data like
voluntary samples. It taught me how to combine quantitative data,
visual representations, and technology to better understand the data.
Working in a group setting, has also allowed me to better understand
my finding by hearing others explanations in a group discussion.
I have already seen how the concepts I have learned in this
project could be applied to other classes that I am taking. For instance,
my biology class just had a discussion on normal distribution being
important when it comes to the theory of evolution. The graphs that I
have created for this project have led to a better visual understanding
when hearing about statistical data like allele frequencies in my
biology class. As someone who is going into social work, statistics will
be an important concept in my career field. When I enter into a social
work program, I will be required to take a statistics class that is specific
to social services. I believe that this class and this project will help as a
stepping-stone for that class.

This project helped my problem solving skills, because I was able

to use different methods to analyze the same data. This allows me to
better understand how I learn math and the statistical concepts that
have come up in this class.
This project has changed the way that I see how companies get their
statistics. Now when I hear that a company has a certain percentage
rating, I do think about how they gathered their statistics.