Andrews 1

Avery Andrews
William Lepowsky
Math 13
21 May 2015
Extra Credit Research Analysis
1. Do students with high and low GPAs differ with respect to number of free periods per week? A
proposal was sent to my leadership class urging that we lower the number of free periods a student has
per week, because more free periods were causing lower GPAs. I am going to be testing if that is
actually true, by seeing if there is an association between the 2 variables.
2. Unit: 1 student at Alameda Community Learning Center (ACLC)
Population: all students currently attending ACLC, N=375
Sample: Surveyed students, n=100
Variables: High or Low GPA(Dichotomous categorical), number of free periods per week(intrinsic
numerical). The GPA variable is measured to the tenths position, and the number of free periods is
measured to the whole number.
3. Last week, during my free periods and classes, I surveyed people in my classes and also in their free
periods, I tried to get as wide a range as possible. I kept track of names only for the sake of not
duplicating results. I would ask for the units numerical GPA, and then decide if it fit into the Low or
High category. If the GPA was over 3.0, I counted it as High, and if it was less than or equal to 3, I
counted it as Low. I grouped the # of free periods by saying that 7 or less was Low, and greater than 7
was High.
4. See Page 3
5. The mean GPA is 3.37, and the mean number of free periods is 7.74 The range of GPA is 1.7-4.4, and
the range of # of free periods is 1-17. 74% of student have high GPAs, and 51% of student have high
numbers of free periods.
Equation of regression line:
y=-0.19x+8.77

Confidence Interval
Im going to do a confidence interval for each variable, because its not possible with two.
Variable 1: GPA, success is high GPA
We are 95% confident that the interval from 65.4% to 82.6% contains the percentage of all students at
ACLC with high GPAs.

Andrews 2
We are 95% confident that the interval from 17.4% to 34.6% contains the percentage of all students at
ACLC with low GPAs.
Variable 2: # of free periods per week, success is high # of free periods per week
We are 95% confident that the interval from 41.2% to 60.8% contains the percentage of all students at
ACLC with high numbers of free periods.
We are 95% confident that the interval from 39.2% to 58.8% contains the percentage of all students at
ACLC with high numbers of free periods.
Chi-Square Test for Independence
x2=0.11, =5%
Decision Rule: Reject H0 if x2>3.84
Decision: Accept H0, because x2<3.84
P-value: 73.6%
Results are not statistically significant.
6. It can be concluded that in this population, GPA and number of free periods are not associated. This
means that I will recommend to my leadership class that the proposal of decreasing number of free
periods due to low levels of GPA is denied. The Chi-Square test for independence is what really helped
me decide this. The confidence interval did help to predict p, but it did not help me decide whether or
not the 2 variable were independent.
7. a) Yes, I learned that GPA and # of free periods per week are not associated.
b) If someone were to criticize my work, it would be that I did not sample enough people, and so my
data does not give an accurate description of the population, and that my sampling procedure was not
random enough. They could be justified, because I only covered a little over of the full population, but
considering my resources, and that I only really had access to a certain group of people, I think that they
could reconsider. The project could be improved by working with administration to administer a
mandatory survey to all students, so that we could use the entire population. For the confidence
intervals, the Conditions were not met, because I did not have adequate sampling resources. It was the
same for the Chi-Square test for independence, the conditions were not met because I didnt have
adequate sampling resources.
c) I was surprised that the two variables were not associated, because in my mind, it makes sense that
they would have some sort of correlation. I was also kind of surprised by how close the expected values
were to the observed values, and that the distribution of low and high numbers of free periods per week
were almost equal (51-49).
d) I learned about the most practical adaptations of the statistical procedures that we have learned in this
class. I definitely think that the Chi-square test could be applicable in many forms of daily life. I also
learned that I shouldve been using those spreadsheets all semester!

Raw Data
gpa # of
free

high/low high/low unit gpa # of

gpa
free per.
free

high/lo
w gpa

high/low unit gpa # of

free per.
free

high/low high/low
gpa
free per.

Andrews 3
unit

periods

periods

periods

1 3.4

35 3.2

70 3.9

36 3.4

71 4.1

3 3.7

37 3.3

72

4 2.9

10

38 3.7

73 3.9

5 2.6

14

39 2.7

74 1.7

10

6 3.3

40 3.6

10

75 2.1

7 3.9

12

41 1.9

76

11

8 4.3

42 2.6

77 2.8

13

9 2.4

43 3.6

78 2.4

10 3.2

15

44 4.4

79

11 2.9

45 4.1

80 3.4

12 3.4

46 3.9

81 2.1

13

47 3.8

82 3.2

14 3.8

48 4.1

10

83 3.4

15 3.9

49 3.7

12

84 2.8

16 3.8

50 3.8

85 2.9

17 4.1

51 2.7

86 2.5

18

52 3.9

87 3.5

19 3.7

53 3.6

88 3.1

20 3.3

11

54 3.7

89 3.1

21 2.8

55 3.1

90 4.3

22 1.7

56 3.6

91 4.2

23 2.2

57 3.4

92

24 3.8

58 3.4

93 3.9

25 3.6

59 3.2

94 3.8

13

26 3.6

60 3.1

95 3.5

14

27 3.5

61

96 3.3

28 3.9

62

97 3.1

29 4.1

63 3.5

13

98

30 4.2

64 3.8

13

99 2.2

31 3.8

14

66 3.4

H 100 2.9

32 3.5

11

67 3.2

10

33 3.5

17

68 3.7

34 3.9

69 3.1