STAT270 APPLIED STATISTICS 2013 Assignment 1

Note: Due by 12 pm (noon) Friday 3rd May in the STAT270 box at Science Centre (E7A Level 1) You may discuss the assignment in the early stages with your fellow students. However, the assignment submitted should be your own individual work. It will only be accepted if it has a properly completed assignment cover sheet (available on the unit iLearn) as the first page.

Question 1: For this question, you may use Minitab to do necessary calculations and/or to obtained relevant graphs. For each test, use 5% significance level, state clearly null and alternative hypotheses, test statistic value with degree(s) of freedom if relevant and the corresponding p-value, and give a conclusion. Remember to check relevant assumptions before making a conclusion. Data for this question is stored in the file, petrol prices Auck and Syd.MTW, available on iLearn. a) To investigate petrol price in Auckland and Sydney, petrol (unleaded) prices on the first Wednesday of June 2011 were collected by a researcher from a randomly selected 16 petrol stations in Auckland (Auck_2011), and on the same day another researcher in Sydney also had obtained petrol prices in 20 randomly selected petrol stations in Sydney (Syd_2011). The data (price/litre in AUS$) are given in the file, petrol prices Auck and Syd.MTW. Use an appropriate hypothesis test to test if there is a difference in petrol price between Sydney and Auckland. For this part, also include a relevant confidence interval and its interpretation in your conclusion. b) Another study of petrol price was undertaken to investigate whether petrol price in Auckland dropped a year later (ie, June 2012). Thus, petrol prices on the first Wednesday of June 2012 (Auck_2012) were obtained from the same 16 petrol stations used in the previous data collection described in part a). The data are also stored in the file, petrol prices Auck and Syd.MTW. Use an appropriate hypothesis test to determine if there was a decrease in petrol price in Auckland from June 2011 to June 2012. c) Suppose the average petrol price in Perth on 1 April last year (12 noon) was $1.40. We would like to find out (ie, test) if the average price is still the same (vs increased in the alternative hypothesis) on the same day/time this year. Assume that petrol prices are normally distributed with std dev $0.08 (= ). i. If we took a random sample of 20 petrol stations in Perth and recorded petrol price at 12 noon on April 1 2013 for each station selected, and used this sample for the test stated above. What is the power of the test at 5% significance level if the actual average petrol price (of the population) at 12 noon on 1 April 2013 is $1.46. Interpret the result. ii. For question in part I above, what would be the power if we took a sample of size 10 instead (keeping all other conditions the same). Compare your result here with that in part i and comment.
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Question 2: A clinical trial was conducted to determine the effectiveness of four new treatments for fever blisters. Thirty patients were randomly assigned to one of five groups (the four new treatment groups, and a control group who received a placebo treatment). The data recorded are the number of days from initial appearance of the blisters until healing is completed. (Source: Kleinbaum, D.G., Kupper, L.L. and
Muller, K.E. (1988), Applied Regression Analysis and other Multivariable Methods.)

The data are stored in an Excel file, Blisters.xlsx, available on iLearn. a) Transfer the Excel data file into Minitab, and then produce a relevant boxplot of the data in Minitab and comment on the graph. b) Carry out an analysis of variance in Minitab. Show the ANOVA table from Minitab, and write down in details the expression for calculating (ie, working out) the Treatment SS presented in this ANOVA table. c) Use the results in the ANOVA table obtained in part b) to test if there are any differences in the number of days to heal for the 5 treatment groups (1 - 5). Here you need to check relevant model assumptions (showing relevant graphs or other evidence) BEFORE actually carrying out the hypothesis test and making conclusions. Also you must show hypotheses, F value and relevant degrees of freedom, F critical or p value, reject or not reject the null hypothesis, and give your conclusion. d) If the 5 treatments are significantly different (ie, not all the same) at the 5% level of significance according to part c) above, (For each part below, use an overall significance level of 5%) i. Use the Tukeys procedure in Minitab to carry out multiple pairwise comparisons of all the 5 treatments. Clearly state your findings/conclusions. ii. Use the Dunnets procedure in Minitab to compare each of the four new treatments (2-5) with the control/placebo group (1). Clearly state your findings/conclusions. iii. Use the Bonferronis method BY HAND (based on relevant confidence intervals or tests) to compare each of the four new treatments with the control group simultaneously. Clearly state your findings/conclusions. iv. Compare your results in parts iii and ii above, and comment on the similarity and/or difference between the two sets of results. e) Write down a contrast (refer to Week 4 lecture) that compares the four new treatments (as a whole) with the control/placebo treatment (group). Test if this (population) contrast value is zero (0) or not at 5% significance level. Show relevant calculations and hypothesis test procedures/steps. Here we assume that all the assumptions of this test are held by the data.