AP* Statistics – Investigative Task Chapter 20 Recession Careers Have current events such as the recession and/or the Occupy Wall Street movement impacted the opinions and choices of recent college graduates? A polling organization wants to investigate how this year’s college graduates compare to those of prior years. Question #1: Researchers asked 2011-2012 college graduates “To what extent do you agree with the following statement: My investment in my education was worthwhile?” The reported results are shown at right1. The pollsters hope to estimate the percentage of next year’s college who would strongly agree or agree with a margin of error no greater than 5%. What size sample would suffice if they want to have 90% confidence in the estimate? Strongly Agree 39% Agree 38% Neither Agree Nor Disagree 14% Disagree 7% Strongly Disagree 2% Question #2: A random sample of 1010 college graduates in 2013 found that 435 are willing to accept a lower salary due to the current economy1. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the true percentage of all 2013 college graduates who are willing to accept a lower salary. Explain carefully what your interval means. Question #3: In 2000, when the economy was performing well and prior to the current recession and the development of the Occupy Wall Street movement, about 20% of college graduates majored in business2. A survey of 2013 graduates (n=1010) conducted by Accenture reported that 182 of them majored in business1. Do these data suggest that the percentage who major in business has been adversely impacted by the events described? Test an appropriate hypothesis and state your conclusion. Question #4: 2012-2012 2013 Many commentators have indicated that, as a 1005 1010 n result of high recession-related unemployment 62%/38% 75%/25% Yes/No rates, college students are placing much more emphasis on post-graduation employability when selecting their course of study. A random sample of 2011-2012 college graduates and a random sample of 2013 college graduates were asked: “Did you consider the availability of jobs in your field before deciding your major?”1 Based on the results as shown, test the hypothesis that students are becoming more concerned with future job prospects when deciding college major. Question #5: Referring to your conclusion in Question #3, explain, in this context, what a Type I error and a Type II error would be. 1 http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture-2013-College-Graduate-Employment-Survey.pdf http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/figures/fig_16.asp?referrer=figures 2