California Veteran Support, an agency delivering resources to support military veterans in California, wants to address the problem of veterans being homeless. To start, they want to determine whether or not there is a correlation between homelessness and other variables, such as education, crime, and mental illness, so that they can determine the most effective resources to offer. You are hired to specifically investigate whether or not there is a relationship between years of education, and length of time spent homeless.
You receive a survey of responses from 31 homeless veterans from various cities in California. Each veteran responded to indicate how many months they have lived on the streets, as well as the grade they finished in school (one year of college would equal 13 years of school, 4 years of college would equal 16 years of school, and so on. Some veterans received a GED and had less than 12 years of formal education).
Is there sufficient evidence to show that the years of education a veteran has received may affect the length of time that he or she is homeless? You are asked to organize and analyze this data, and present your results with a hypothesis test on whether or not there is a correlation between years of education and months spent homeless.
Please present a report to the California Veteran Support directors that includes your data, results, and related evidence from national studies.
Part 2: Organization of Data - Examination of Descriptive Statistics (graphs and tables, and approximately 4 paragraphs)
Now that your data is collected, you need to organize it to identify characteristics and patterns.
Graph your data appropriately. Construct a scatterplot, bar graph, or other graph to show the nature of the data. For each graph, be sure you label the graph completely – that means give it a title, label the axes, and explain what that graph means in the context of this narrative.
Discuss whether the data is normally distributed. For this, use a visual inspection of a
the type of data.
Histogram and Normal Quantile Plot, as well as what you see in the data itself and what that
means about the high and low ends of the data.
Calculate and present the three Measures of Central Tendency: mean, median, and mode.Provide both the value of the statistics as well as an analysis of what they mean in terms ofunderstanding the sample.
Calculate and present the Measures of Variation: range and standard deviation. Provide boththe value of the statistics as well as an analysis of what they mean in terms of understandingthe sample.
Calculate and present the 5-Number Summary: minimum, Q1, median, Q3, maximum.Provide both the value of the statistics as well as an analysis of what they mean in terms ofunderstanding the sample.
Identify any Outliers. You can do this using a visual inspection of the graph as well as theformulas from the textbook (HINT: Q1 - 1.5IQR, and Q3 + 1.5IQR).
Discuss any corrections: Based on your inspection of the outliers are there any errors thatshould be corrected? How would you correct them? Discuss the implications of this result.
Part 3: Analysis of Data - Examination of Inferential Statistics (tables of results, and appropriate hypothesis test steps)
Assuming that all assumptions have been met, it is now time to analyze the data. Present a complete hypothesis test.
Identify the claim.
State the null and alternative hypotheses, in words and in symbolic form.
Explain what type of test you will be performing (i.e. a test of two dependent means, a test forcorrelation, etc.) and why that test is appropriate to address the main question you are trying toanswer.
Select the significance level and determine if it is a one or two-tailed test.
Identify the test statistic and compute the value of the test statistic and the p-value.
Make a decision of whether to Reject or Fail to Reject the null hypothesis.
Restate your decision in nontechnical terms. That means, state your conclusion in a way thatanyone can understand; a final conclusion that just says “reject the null hypothesis” by itself without explanation is not helpful to those who hired you. Explain in ordinary terms what it means.
Part 4: Conclusion and Recommendations (approximately 3 paragraphs)
Summarize and explain your results. Provide recommendations.
What can you infer from the statistics?
What information might lead you to a different conclusion?
What variables are missing?
What additional information would be valuable to help draw a more certain conclusion?
What qualitative or quantitative data would you want to collect if you were hired to do a followup study?
Sample Solution