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An opinion poll asks an SRS of 100 college seniors how they view their job prospects. In all, 53 say Good. The large-sample \(95 \%\) confidence interval for estimating the proportion of all college seniors who think their job prospects are good is (a) \(0.530 \pm 0.082 .\) (b) \(0.530 \pm 0.098 .\) (c) \(0.530 \pm 0.049\).

Short Answer

Expert verified
The correct interval is (b) \(0.530 \pm 0.098 \).

Step by step solution

01

Identify the Sample Proportion

First, determine the sample proportion \( \hat{p} \) of college seniors who say their job prospects are good. Since 53 out of 100 seniors say 'Good', \( \hat{p} = \frac{53}{100} = 0.530 \).
02

Calculate the Standard Error

The standard error of the sample proportion is given by \( SE = \sqrt{\frac{\hat{p}(1-\hat{p})}{n}} \), where \( n \) is the sample size. So, \( SE = \sqrt{\frac{0.530 \times 0.470}{100}} \approx 0.0497 \).
03

Find the Z-score for 95% Confidence

For a 95% confidence interval, the Z-score is approximately 1.96 (from standard normal distribution tables).
04

Calculate the Margin of Error

The margin of error \( ME \) is calculated as \( ME = Z \times SE = 1.96 \times 0.0497 \approx 0.0975 \).
05

Determine the Confidence Interval

The 95% confidence interval is \( \hat{p} \pm ME = 0.530 \pm 0.0975 \). Approximating, the confidence interval is \( 0.530 \pm 0.098 \), which matches option (b).

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Key Concepts

These are the key concepts you need to understand to accurately answer the question.

Sample Proportion
When we talk about the sample proportion, we're referring to the fraction of individuals in a sample who hold a specific attribute we're interested in. For example, if we surveyed a group of students and found that some of them rated their job prospects as "Good," the sample proportion would reflect this finding numerically.
The sample proportion is often represented as \( \hat{p} \). It's calculated by dividing the number of successes (in our case, students who say their job prospects are "Good") by the total number of respondents in the sample.
  • In this example, out of 100 college seniors, 53 think their job prospects are good. So, the sample proportion \( \hat{p} \) is \( \frac{53}{100} = 0.530 \).
This simple calculation helps us estimate how a larger population might feel, based on our smaller, representative sample.
Standard Error
The standard error (SE) is crucial in statistics as it measures how much the sample proportion is expected to vary from the actual population proportion. This accounts for possible sampling variability.
The formula for calculating standard error of the sample proportion is:
  • \( SE = \sqrt{\frac{\hat{p}(1 - \hat{p})}{n}} \)
where \( \hat{p} \) is the sample proportion, and \( n \) is the size of the sample.
In our example:
  • \( SE = \sqrt{\frac{0.530 \times 0.470}{100}} \approx 0.0497 \)
This result tells us the typical distance between the sample proportion and the true population proportion.
Z-score
The Z-score is a statistical measurement that tells us how many standard deviations an element is from the mean. In the context of confidence intervals, it's used to find the probability that a sample statistic falls within a certain range.
For creating a 95% confidence interval, the Z-score is determined using a standard normal distribution table.
  • The common Z-score for a 95% confidence level is 1.96.
This score represents a confidence level where 95% of sample proportions would fall within \( 1.96 \cdot SE \) of the actual population proportion. This Z-score is multiplied by the standard error to calculate the margin of error, expanding or contracting the range of our confidence interval.
Margin of Error
The margin of error quantifies the uncertainty involved in sampling and helps us express the confidence interval.
  • It's calculated by multiplying the Z-score with the standard error.
  • In our example: \( ME = 1.96 \times 0.0497 \approx 0.0975 \).
A higher margin of error means more uncertainty, whereas a lower margin represents more precision in the estimate.
The margin of error defines an interval around the sample proportion, giving us a range where the true population proportion is likely to be.
  • Thus, the 95% confidence interval becomes \( 0.530 \pm 0.0975 \), or simply \( 0.530 \pm 0.098 \).
This means we're 95% confident that the true proportion of all college seniors who think their job prospects are "Good" falls in this interval.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

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