Chapter 13

  1. The narrator stated they “provided strong evidence” rather than “proved” that using the busy road was quickest because it takes more to prove that something is the way it is. The narrator stated that from the statistical analysis that they conducted by timing the rides home on multiple occasions, the difference is not statistically significant and therefore not “proven” but there is evidence that supports the statement that the busy road is quickest.
  2. I think the small p-value and the small difference in travel times and not like it normally would be with a small p-value and big difference because it’s testing a different kind of hypothesis where the difference between groups is part of the hypothesis.
  3. Another way you can use statistics to find the probability and/or likelihood something will or won’t happen.

Chapter 14

  1. We talk about the probability of data under the null hypothesis because, as the narrator said, nothing interesting is going on in the null hypothesis, which contrasts the actual hypothesis. When the null is statistically significant, it is rejected because something is actually going on (opposite of the narrator’s definition of a null), thus accepting the actual hypothesis.
  2. b. African American males and white males have the same amount of difficulty hailing a taxi in New York City
    c. Hospitals in New York State have the same percentage of Cesarean deliveries as the rest of the nation
    e. Patients taking a new, less toxic type of chemotherapy have worse response rates than those on the standard chemotherapy drug

Chapter 15

  1. I think a p-value of 0.049999 isn’t always statistically significant because of how close it is to being 0.05. On the other hand, I think a p-value of 0.050001 is never statistically significant because the “rule” is a p-value greater than or equal to 0.05 us not statistically significant so even though 0.050001 is very close to 0.05, it is still not significant because of how that “rule” is set up.
  2. I think the narrator’s experiment with Michael Jordan resulted in a non-significant p-value because there wasn’t enough data behind the null hypothesis and the calculation of the p-value. They only shot 7 free throws each before calculating a p-value and that is hardly anything on which to base a hypothese.
  3. In criminal trials, the null hypothesis would be that the defendant is not guilty. The p-value would be supported by sufficient evidence, rejecting the null hypothesis and ruling the defendant guilty or the opposite situation where there is not enough evidence, thus not rejecting the null hypothesis and continuing to find the defendant not guilty.