UNIVERSITY OF STELLENBOSCH BUSINESS SCHOOL

Business Statistics
Example1
Final test: 2008i
Time :

2 hours

Total marks: 50

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.
~Aaron Levenstein

Question 1
Discrimination in hiring has been illegal for a number of years. It is illegal to discriminate
against any person on the basis of race, gender, or religion. It is also illegal to discriminate
because of a persons handicap if it in no way prevents that person from performing that job.
In recent years, the definition of handicap has widened. Several people have successfully
sued companies because they were denied employment for no other reason than that the
applicant was overweight.
A study was conducted to examine attitudes toward overweight people. The experiment
involved showing a number of subjects videotape of an applicant being interviewed for a job.
Prior to the interview, the subject was given a description of the job. Following the interview,
the subject was asked to score the applicant in terms of how well the applicant was suited for
the job. The score was out of 100, where higher scores described greater suitability. (The
scores are interval data). The same procedure was repeated for each subject. However, the
gender and weight (average and overweight) of the applicant varied. The results were
recorded using the following format:
Column 1: Score for average-weight males
Column 2: Score for overweight males
Column 3: Score for average-weight females
Column 4: Score for overweight females
The data are stored in the worksheet Question 1. You may assume that the data are normally
distributed.
a) Can we infer, at a 1% significance level, that the scores of the four groups of applicant
differ?
b) If you could not assume normality, which test would you use?
c) Are any differences detected due to weight, gender or some interaction?
[10]

All questions from Keller 7th edition (this will not necessarily be the case in your exam)

Question 2
A total of 641 adult Quebecois were asked the following question: If a referendum were held
today on Quebecs sovereignty with the question Do you want Quebec to separate from
Canada and become an independent country? would you vote yes or no?
2
Yes
1
No
The pollsters also recorded the language (English or French) in which the respondent
answered.
Estimate with 95% confidence the difference between French- and English-speaking
Quebecers in their support for separation.
[5]
Question 3
A professor has noted that the exam results of students who write their exams at 1pm appear
to be better than the marks of students who write their exams at 4pm. He forms the belief that
the difference is caused by energy levels that are affected by the timing of the most recent
meal. In other words, eating a meal before the exam will produce higher grades. To test this
belief, he randomly selects 100 students to write a test at 12:30. Half the class is provided
lunch and the other half is deprived of lunch. Do the data support the professors belief?
Refer to the information provided in the worksheet Question 3.
[8]
Question 4
An agronomist wanted to investigate the factors that determine crop yield. She believed that
the amount of rainfall as well as the amount of fertilizer used would affect the crop yields.
Thirty greenhouses were rented. In each, the amount of fertilizer and the amount of water
were varied. Corn was planted, and the amount of corn harvested at the end of the season
was recorded. Stored in the worksheet Question 4 are data concerning this problem.
a) Determine the sample regression equation, and interpret the coefficients.
b) Do these data allow us to infer that there is a linear relationship between the amount
of fertilizer and the crop yield?
c) What can you say about the fit of the regression model?
d) Is it reasonable to believe that the error variable is normally distributed with constant
variance?
e) Estimate with 95% confidence the crop yield when 100kg of fertilizer and 1 000 litres
of water are applied in a greenhouse.
[13]
Question 5
To determine whether a single die is balanced, or fair, the die was rolled 600 times. 1 came
up 114 times, 2 came up 92 times, a 3 came up 84 times, a 4 came up 101 times, a 5 came
107 times and a 6 was up 102 times. Is there sufficient evidence to allow you to conclude that
the die is not fair?
[6]

Question 6
Engineers who are in charge of the production of springs used to make car seats are
concerned about the variability in the length of the springs. The springs are designed to be
500mm long. When the springs are too long, they will loosen and fall out. When they are too
short, they will not fit into the frames. The springs that are too long and too short must be
reworked at considerable additional cost. The engineers have calculated that a standard
deviation of 2mm will result in an acceptable number of springs that must be reworked. A
random sample of 100 springs was measured. Can we infer at the 5% significance level that
the number of springs requiring reworking is unacceptably large?
Refer to the information provided in the worksheet Question 6.
[8]

Please do not read more into the type/degree of difficulty of these questions: the aim of this
example question paper is to illustrate the format of the questions you might expect, as well as
the format of the answers expected from you.