STA 6166 Assignment 4
Survival Rates Aboard the Titanic
In 1912 the luxury liner Titanic, dubbed the unsinkable, struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage across the North Atlantic. Some passengers got off the ship in lifeboats, but many died. Think of the Titanic disaster as an experiment on how the people of that time behaved when faced with death in a situation where only some can escape. The passengers can be regarded as a (hopefully random) sample from all socioeconomic strata of Western society. Here are the numbers on who lived and who died, cross-classified by economic status. (The data are not fictitious, but a few passengers with unknown economic status have been omitted.)
|
Men |
Women |
| Died |
Survived |
Died |
Survived |
Economic
Status |
Highest | 111 | 61 | 6 | 126
|
| Middle | 150 | 22 | 13 | 90
|
| Lowest | 419 | 85 | 107 | 101
|
| Total | 680 | 168 | 126 | 317
|
Your task is to analyze this data using the methods of Unit 4, by providing specific answers to the following questions:
- Common lore has it that priority was given to women on the lifeboats. Compare the proportions of men and women who died. Is there statistical evidence that a higher proportion of men die in such situations?
- Consider only the women. Describe how the three economic classes differ in in the proportion of women who died. Is there statistical evidence that these proportions differ among the three economic classes? (Just a single test is needed here.)
- Repeat the previous question but now considering only the men.
- Disregarding gender, is there evidence of an association between survival and economic status? If so, indicate which cell(s) contributed the most to this evidence.
- Disregarding survival, is there evidence of an association between gender and economic status? If so, indicate which cell(s) contributed the most to this evidence.
Instructions:
- Pay careful attention as to which statistical procedure you should use to answer each question. In general it should be clear what to do after some thought, but inherent inadequacies in conveying quantitative concepts through the spoken language can obscure the effort.
- Typeset your results as a report, using the same
format, template, and general instructions as for previous Assignments. Remember to omit raw computer output and present instead concise, well-organized, tabulated numerical summaries. Focus on conveying clear interpretations of the results of statistical inferences.