The Study

Population of Interest

The group the study was observing was all high school students at North Olmsted High School that could be classified as a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior. To see the raw data collected click on the link below.

Sampling Method

All the students who are enrolled at North Olmsted High School were put onto a comprehensive list that was put into Minitab software. The Minitab software then randomly generated a list of 150 students. We then referenced all 150 randomly selected student’s schedules to find the best class period to anonymously survey them. A two question survey, asking class level and health conscientiousness, was delivered to the teachers of the students selected. The survey was labeled with only a post-it note with the selected student’s name on it so the teachers would know who to distribute the surveys too. The students would then quickly answer the brief survey and return the survey to the teacher, who would then return it to our Statistics class to analyze. The teachers of the students selected were instructed simply to hand out the surveys and ask for them returned and completed. Any student that was not in the grade 9-12 or did not attend the High School for classes that appeared on our sampling list was not actually surveyed. To see the graphs of the data collected, click on the link below.

Sample Survey
I

Which class do you belong to?

Freshmen Sophomore

Junior Senior

How would you rate your personal health conscientiousness (How aware are you of the decisions you make that directly affect your health)?

Below Average Average Above Average

*The following information should be taken into account when making your decision. It is recommended you get between 8 and 9 hours of sleep a night. It is recommended that you are involved in at least an hour of physical activity each day. It is recommended a moderately active teenage girl consume 2,000 - 2,200 calories a day, while a moderately active teenage boy consume 2,500 - 2,900 calories a day. It is recommended a balanced diet consists of 6-11 servings of grains, 3-5 servings of vegetables, 2-4 servings of fruits, 2-3 servings of dairy products, and 2-3 servings of protein a day.

Testing and Results

Type of Test: Chi-Squared

Reasoning: We hypothesized that there is an association between high school class and health conscientiousness. Both questions on our survey were meant to record categorical data. Therefore, we were able to create a 2 by 3 contingency table, which allowed us to run a Chi-Squared test, which can be used to find associations.

1) Ho: There is no association between a students grade level and their own self-assessed health conscientiousness.

2) Ha: The null hypothesis is false

3) α = 0.05

4) We asssume that the cell counts are based on random independent samples, which our sampling process accounted for. Also, we must assume that all expected cell counts are greater than or equal to 5. Initially, using 4 different class periods yielded expected values that were significantly too low. However, when the Freshmen and Sophomore categories were combined into one group, Underclassmen, and the Junior and Senior categories were combined into one group, Upperclassmen, the expected values were much closer to 5. The “Below Average” expected cell count for Underclassmen was 4.23 and the “Below Average” expected cell count for Upperclassmen was 3.77. Because these 2 values are too low, the chi-squared test could still be run, but the results should be analyzed as less accurate, and any conclusions drawn are less concrete.

6) X² = 2.094 with 2 degrees of freedom

7) P-value = 0.351

8) We are unable to reject the null hypothesis at any level of significance because or p-value of 0.351 is greater than any reasonable value of alpha. Therefore, there is insufficient evidence to suggest that there is an association between class level and health conscientiousness.