SalemBelay

LabPartners:MajaGujral,JakeSasfai,NickMack
MissLyon
September25,2015
ChiSquaredAnalysisonM&Ms
Introduction:
ChiSquaredanalysesareusedwhentryingtodetermineifchangesfroman
expectedratioweresmallenoughtoprovethattheyhappenedduetosheerchance,orif
thechangeswerecausedbysomethingdifferent.Theanalysestakeintoaccountboththe
expectedandobserveddataofanexperiment.Theyarefundamentaltoolsthatareuseful
whentryingtoprove/disprovestatementsmadebycompanies,suchastheMars
CompanyanditsclaimednumbersofeachcolorM&Minasinglebag.
Inthisexperiment,twovaluesofChisquared(oneforanindividualsampleand
onefortheclasssample)willbecalculatedtofindoutifthenullhypothesisshouldbe
rejectedoraccepted.Ifthenullhypothesisisaccepted,itcanbesaidthatanydifferences
inthenumbersofeachcolorofM&MsfromtheMarsCompanysexpectedvalueswere
duetosheerchance.Ifthenullhypothesisisrejected,itcanbesaidthatanydifferences
wereduetoothercauses(i.e.intentionalactionsbythecompany).
Question:
BasedontheinformationreleasedbytheMarsCompany,doeseachpacketofM&Ms
havethesamenumberofeachcolorM&Masexpected?
NullHypothesis:
Anydifferencebetweentheobservedandexpecteddataisduetochance.
Thematerialsusedinclude:
M&Ms
AScale
SixbowlstosortouttheM&MsandtoplaceM&Msinwhileweighingthem
Procedure:
1. GetabagofM&MsandcounthowmanyM&Msareinthebag.
2. Next,separatetheM&Msintodifferentbowlsbasedontheircolorsandcount
howmanythereareofeachcolor.
3. WritedowntheamountofeachcolorinthetablelabeledDataTable1.
4. Next,performthecalculationsindicatedinthattabletofindthevalueofChi
squaredforyourM&Mbag.
5. OnceeachgrouphasfilledoutDataTable1,filloutDataTable2usingtheir
information,asDataTable2isthedatafortheentireclass.
6. FindChisquaredagain(usingthedatafromDataTable2).
7. Onceyouhaveboththeindividualandtheclassvaluesforchisquared,compare
thevaluestothechart(giveninhandout)thatdisplaystheprobabilitiesfor

differentdegreesoffreedom(youwillbeusing95%probability)sothatyoucan
decidewhethertoacceptorrejectthenullhypothesis.
Results:

Thistablerepresentsthedataofmygroupssample.

Thistablerepresentsthedataoftheclassasawhole.

Thesearepicturestakenthroughoutthelab.
ErrorAnalysis:
Inthislab,themostcommonsourceoferrorcouldvebeenmiscountingtheM&Ms.This
couldchangeallofthecalculationsthatweredonetofindthevalueofChiSquared,thus
impactingtheresultsgreatly.Anothercommonerrorcouldvebeenmiscalculatingthe
data.Bothoftheseerrorshavelargeimpactsandcouldveaffectedthe
rejection/acceptanceofthenullhypothesis.Theonlywaytheycouldreallybeprevented
iseitherbybeingmorecarefulthroughoutthelab,orbydoublecheckingboththe
numbersofM&Msandthecalculations.
DiscussionandConclusion:
1. Thenullhypothesisforthisexperimentwasthatanydifferencebetweenthe
observedandexpecteddataisduetochance.Thisexperimentdisprovedthe
hypothesisbecausethevalueforChisquaredwashigherthanthevaluefor95%
probability(whichwas11.07with5degreesoffreedom)bothintheindividual
sample,andtheclasssample.Basedonmydataandresults,Ihavelearnedthat
mostbagsofM&MsdonothavetheclaimednumberofM&Msofeachcoloras
statedbytheMarsCompany.Forfurtherinquiry,itwouldbeinterestingtoseeif
theMarsCompany(andothercompanies)aretruetotheirwordinotheraspects
ofproduction(e.g.ingredients,validityofexpirationdatesetc.).
2. LabQuestions:
a. Basedonindividualsample:
i. Withallofthisinmind,basedonyourindividualsample,
shouldyouACCEPTorREJECTthenullhypothesis?
BasedonthevalueofChisquaredformyindividualsample,the
nullhypothesisshouldberejected.Thisisbecausethecalculated
valueofChisquaredislargerthanthevalueitshouldvebeen
(11.07)inordertoacceptthenullhypothesisat95%probability.
ii. Ifyourejectedyournullhypothesis,whatmightbesome
explanationsforyouroutcome?
ThiscouldvebeenduetointentionalactionstakenbytheMars
Company(i.e.onedyeischeaperthananother,sotheymakemore
candywiththecheaperdyeinordertobemorecosteffective).
Thiscouldvealsobeencausedbythepreviouslymentioned
sourcesoferror.However,mygrouphaddoublecheckedbothour
numbersandcalculations,soitislikelythatitisaresultofthe
MarsCompany.

b. Basedonclassdata:
i. Basedonyourclassdata,shouldyouACCEPTorREJECTthe
nullhypothesis?Why?
Basedontheclassdata,thenullhypothesisshouldberejected.The
valueforchisquaredwas14.01,whichagainisgreaterthanthe
11.07,thenumberitshouldhavebeenlessthanorequaltoinorder
toacceptthenullhypothesisat95%probability.
ii. Ifyourejectedthenullhypothesisbasedontheclassdata,
whatmightbesomeoftheexplanationsforyouroutcome?
Aspreviouslymentioned,thisoutcomecouldvejustbeenaresult
oftheMarsCompanysintentionalactionstohavemoreofone
colorthantheother,orsimplyanerrorinourcalculationsasa
class.
iii. Ifyouacceptedthenullhypothesis,howdoyouexplainit
particularlyifyourejectedthenullbasedonyourindividual
groupsdata?
Thenullhypothesiswasnotaccepted.
iv. Whatisthepurposeofcollectingdatafromtheentiregroup?
Itisimportanttocollectdatafromtheentireclassbecauseitmakes
theexperimentasaccurateaspossible.Ifonebagwasusedto
makethejudgmentfortheentirelab,itcouldvebeenmisleading
becausethatonebagcouldvehadafaultorthatbagcouldbethe
oneinamillionexceptiontorejectednullhypothesis.
Sources:
1.Noadditionalsourceswereusedinthislabreport.