Unique Paper Code : 32375301

Name of the Paper : Basics of Statistical Inference

Name of the Course : Statistics: Generic Elective for Honours (GE-III) under CBCS

Semester : III

Duration : 3 Hours

Maximum Marks : 75

Instructions for Candidates

Attempt any four questions. All questions carry equal marks.

Use of simple calculator is allowed.

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1. What do you understand by point estimation? When would you say that estimator of a
parameter is ‘good’? In particular, discuss the requirements of consistency and
unbiasedness of an estimator.

In a sample of 600 men from a certain large city, 400 are found to be smokers. In another
sample of 900 from another large city, 450 are smokers. Do the data indicate that the
cities are significantly different with respect to prevalence of smoking among men?

2. Explain the method of constructing a 95% confidence interval for mean of a population
following normal distribution with mean μ and variance σ2, if (i) σ2 is known, (ii) σ2 is
unknown but sample size is large (i.e. n ≥ 30) and (iii) σ2 is unknown but sample size is
small (i.e. n < 30).

Independent random samples of sizes n1 = 16 and n2 = 25 from normal populations with

σ1 = 4.8 and σ2 = 3.5 have the means = 18.2 and = 23.4, find 95% confidence interval
for μ1 – μ2.

3. Explain, with the help of examples, where would you use parametric tests and where
would you use non-parametric tests. Describe the sign test to test the null hypothesis H0:
μ = μ0 against the alternative hypothesis H1: μ > μ0, stating clearly the assumptions
made.

The following are the amounts of time, in minutes, that it took a random sample of 16
technicians to perform a certain task: 18.1, 20.3, 18.3, 15.6, 22.5, 16.8, 17.6, 16.9,
18.2, 17.0, 19.3, 16.5, 19.5, 18.6, 20.0 and 18.8. Assuming that this sample came from
a symmetrical continuous population, use the signed-rank test at the 0.05 level of
significance to test the null hypothesis that the mean of this population is 19.4 minutes
against the alternative hypothesis that it is not 19.4 minutes. (Z0.025 = 1.96)

4. Discuss the chi-square test of goodness of fit of a theoretical distribution to an observed

frequency distribution.

830 college students were classified according to their intelligence and economic
conditions. Test whether there is any association between intelligence and economic
conditions. (χ20.05, 3 = 7.815, χ20.05, 2 = 5.991, χ20.05, 1 = 3.841)

Intelligence Total

Excellent good Mediocre

Economic Good 50 180 170 400
conditions
Bad 80 170 180 430

Total 130 350 350 830

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5. What is the difference between ‘variability within classes’ and ‘variability between
classes’? Explain with a suitable example.

An experiment was carried out for testing the variety effect. Given the following
information:

A B C
No. of observations (n) 5 5 5
Sum of observations 90 125 85
Sum of squares of 1646 3235 1469
observations

Use analysis of variance technique at the 5% level of significance to test whether the
three varieties are significantly different in their mean yields, (showing all the steps in
the general test procedure). (F0.05 (2, 12) = 3.89, F0.05 (5, 12) = 3.11)

6. A randomized block experiment has been carried out in 4 blocks with 5 treatments A, B,
C, D and E. Derive the expected value of mean sum of squares due to errors in the above
design.

An experiment was carried out on wheat with three treatments in four randomised
blocks. Complete the following table for the analysis of variance of a fixed effects
randomised block design:

Source of Degrees of Sum of Mean sum of Variance

variation freedom squares squares ratio
Blocks 3 6.67 - -
Treatments 2 - - -
Error - - 2.22
Total - 28

Test the hypothesis that the treatment effects are equal to zero, showing all the steps in
the general test procedure. (F0.05 (2, 6) = 5.14, F0.05 (3, 6) = 4.76)