MATH 1040 – FINAL PROJECT

Research Question  For SLCC (Utah) Summer 2013 students, is the number of concurrent class credits a student takes in high school related to the number of years it takes for a student to graduate with their Associate’s degree?

Study Design  Cluster Sample We separated the population into clusters of individual classes that were offered at SLCC during the summer of 2013 and then took a random sample of these clusters ○ 1871 classes offered at SLCC (in Utah) during summer of 2013 ○ Randomly chose 12 of these classes using a random number generator 

Choosing our Clusters  12 Randomly Generated Numbers  12 Corresponding Classes BIOL BUS MEEN ART ART MATH COMM ECON NSG AMTT PSY ENGL

Our Survey We gave this survey to EVERY INDIVIDUAL within each of our 12 clusters (classes). The number of concurrent classes taken in high school was determined by the answer to question 1. The number of years it takes for a student to graduate with their Associate’s Degree was determined by adding the numbers from question s 2 & 3.

Our Data Table (a small segment) # of concurrent class credits taken in High School # of years to graduate with Associates Degree ……

STATISTICS  # of concurrent class credits a student takes in HS Mean: Standard Deviation: Five Number Summary: Min = 0, Q1 = 0, Median = 1, Q3 = 3, Max = 35 Range: 35 Mode: 0 Outliers: 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 12, 12, 20, 20, 35  # of years for student to graduate with Associate’s degree Mean: Standard Deviation: Five Number Summary: Min = 1.3, Q1 = 2, Med = 3, Q3 = 3.5, Max = 11 Range: 9.7 Mode: 2 Outliers: 11

Frequency Histograms Skewed Right

Relative Frequency Histograms

BoxPlots # of concurrent classes a student took in HS # of years it takes a student to graduate with Associate’s degree

Correlation Linear Correlation Coefficient (r): Equation for Line of Regression: y = x

Analysis  Our linear correlation coefficient: (r) = Our r value means there is a very weak negative correlation between the two variables ○ As the number of concurrent class credits goes up, the number of years it takes to obtain an Associate’s degree goes down

DF (degree of freedom) & Critical Value  N = 1871 (population)  n = 12 (sample)  df = n – 2 =  df = 10  Statistical Significance =.05 Statistical Significan ce (p).05 …… ……  Critical value =.576

Reject or Fail to Reject the Null Hypothesis???  Null Hypothesis: There is no relationship between the number of concurrent classes a student takes in high school and the time it takes a student to graduate with their Associate’s degree.  Is | r | > critical value? | r | =.1452 Critical value =.576 ○ NO  Fail to reject null hypothesis

What does this mean???  Although there is a slight negative correlation with an r value of within our sample, there is no statistical evidence that this same correlation exists within our population. Far less than 95% of the relationship we found among our sample of 12 classes will also exist in the population of 1871 classes.

Conclusion  We fail to reject the null hypothesis. There is no correlation/relationship between the number of concurrent class credits a student takes in high school and the number of years it takes a student to obtain their Associate’s degree for SLCC (Utah) summer 2013 students.

Problems/Difficulties  Should have given the survey to more than 12 out of the 1871 clusters to get a better sample of the population  Should have used ‘graduates’ instead of ‘current students’ to get accurate information  Several lurking variables

Participants  Kiersten, Kimberly, Timothy, Markee We all worked collaboratively on this. All parts were done and checked equally by all members of the group.