Oaklee Abernathy

Brianna Schuck
Biostatistics Project
Ten-step procedure
Problem:
1. State your question. Within a herd of Giraffa reticulata, is there a correlation
between age and order in which an individual enters a new enclosure?
a. Is it a good scientific question? Definable, Measurable, and Controllable
b. Identify your population: Shifting order of Giraffes
c. Identify your dependent variable: Shifting Order
d. Identify your independent variable: Age
2. State your hypothesis set.
a. Verbal hypothesis: Within a herd of Giraffa reticulata, there is a
correlation between age and order in which an individual enters a new
enclosure.
b. Statistical hypothesis (HO, HA).
Ho: There is not a correlation between age and shifting order of a herd
of giraffes
HA: There is a correlation between age and shifting order of a herd of
giraffes.
c. Is your hypothesis set exhaustive? Yes
d. Is your hypothesis set exclusive? Yes
3. State your significance level. = 0.05
4. Select the appropriate test.
a. Variable scales.
i. Dependent variable: Ordinal
1. Converted or transformed? No
ii. Independent variable: Ordinal
1. Converted or transformed? No
b. What information is given or available?
i. Sample data
c. Number of samples? Many (50)
d. Are the data paired or unpaired? Unpaired
e. What aspect of the variable do you want to compare?
i. Correlation
f. State the test to be used: Spearman Correlation
i. Are the assumptions of the test met? Yes
1. Random Samples-Met
2. Independent Samples-Met
5. Conduct your sampling.
a. Data collection was completed by zookeepers at Omahas Henry Doorly
Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha, Nebraska.
b. Data was collected each morning for two months.
c. The criteria for data collection was as follows:
i. When exiting the barn, the zookeeper began recording the
sequential order of the giraffes when the first giraffe stepped
across a large access gate and placed their front hoof into the
velt enclosure.

Oaklee Abernathy
Brianna Schuck
Biostatistics Project
6. Graph the data

15
10
0

Giraffe Age

20

25

June 7th Shifting Order

Giraffe Order

Figure 1. The order in which female giraffes enter a new enclosure in

correlation with age during morning shifting period on June 7th, 2016.

15
10
0

Giraffe Age

20

25

July 1st Shifting Order

Giraffe Order

Figure 2. The order in which female giraffes enter a new enclosure in

correlation with age during morning shifting period on July 1st, 2016.
7. Summarize the data.
Nothing
8. Calculate your test statistic.
Spearman's rank correlation rho: June 7th Data
data: June7$Giraffe and June7$Order
S = 66, p-value = 0.03333
alternative hypothesis: true rho is not equal to 0

Oaklee Abernathy
Brianna Schuck
Biostatistics Project
sample estimates:
rho
-0.8857143

Spearman's rank correlation rho: July 1st Data

data: July1$Giraffe and July1$Order
S = 32, p-value = 0.9194
alternative hypothesis: true rho is not equal to 0
sample estimates:
rho
0.08571429
9. Retain or reject your null hypothesis based on your test statistic.
June 7th Spearman Correlation:
The calculate p-value (0.03333) is less than the significance
level (0.05), so we would reject our null hypothesis and retain our
alternate hypothesis.
July 1st Spearman Correlation:
The calculated p-value (0.9194) is greater than the significance
level (0.05), so we would retain our null hypothesis and reject our
alternative hypothesis.
10.Interpret the results in biological terms.
June 7th Results:
There is a correlation between age and shifting order of a herd of
female giraffes (rs = 0.885, S= 66, p-value= 0.033).
July 1st Results:
There is no correlation between age and shifting order of a herd
of female giraffes (rs = 0.086, S= 32, p-value= 0.919).