Essay, Research Paper: South Dakotan Smokers: Statistics

SOUTH DAKOTAN SMOKERS:
AGES 18 AND OLDER
By
Karen Kezar
A Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for MA211:
Business Statistics
Dr. R. L. Freese, Instructor
National American University
Sioux Falls Campus
August 7, 2001
INTRODUCTION
Smoking is a great concern in our society. Smoking is a danger to not only the smokers’ health but also those around him or her. It is hard to spend a day in public without seeing someone smoking. Is this amount of smoking as common in the rest of the United States as it is in South Dakota?

Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to determine if the proportion of South Dakotan smokers who are eighteen years old and over is significantly different than the proportion of the population in the United States in the same age group. In order to accomplish these purposes, this study used data obtained from the U. S. Census Bureau and from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on smoking in America.
Statistical Analysis
The population is composed of those eighteen years and older who live in the United States. 22.87% of adults in the United States smoke.
The sample was composed of the South Dakota population that is eighteen years and older. Data was obtained from the U. S. Census Bureau. The chart below shows the distribution of adults in South Dakota by age group. 22.5% of the adults in South Dakota smoke.

Hypothesis Testing
Step 1: Ho: p = л ; Hi: p ≠ л
Step 2: .01 is the significance level
Step 3: Z = p – л
л (1-л)
n
Step 4: When Z * -2.58 or Z * 2.58 reject Ho and accept Hi
Step 5: Given: л = 22.87%
p = 22.5%
n = 497,542
Z = .225 – .2287 = -.0037 = -.0037 = -6.214
.2287 (1-.2287) .17639631 .0000003545355166
497,542 497,542
Z= -6.214 so Z * –2.58 therefore reject Ho and accept Hi. There is a significant difference and it is not due to sampling error

Conclusion
The P-value * .0001 therefore there is extremely strong evidence that Ho was correctly rejected. South Dakota has a significantly smaller proportion of adult smokers than the United States as a whole.


Word Count: 375