NathanNish

Project
Statistics
Inthisproject,wearecomparingstartingcompensationpackagesfordifferentoccupationalfieldsof
collegegraduates.Itanalyzesdatafrom2014,likelybecauseitwasavailableingoodqualityandmorereadily
than2015datawouldbeatthebeginningofthe2016Springsemester.Themethodsusedtoanalyzethedata
includehistograms,5PointSummaries,boxplots,confidenceintervals,andhypothesistests.

Humanities
Communic
Computer
Math&
MajorField
Business
Education
Engineering
&Social
ations
Science
Sciences
Sciences
Sample
$54,537
$46,227
$59,542
$40,021
$60,664
$38,817
$41,923
Mean
Sample
$7,231.72
$7,214.31
$4,669.97
$2,364.82
$7,878.86
$7,146.18
$4938.29
Std.Dev.

Histograms

BusinessStartingCompensations

StartingCompensation(inUSD)

CommunicationStartingCompensation


StartingCompensation(inUSD)

ComputerScienceStartingCompensation

StartingCompensation(inUSD)

EducationStartingCompensation

StartingCompensation(inUSD)

EngineeringStartingCompensation

StartingCompensation(inUSD)

Humanities&SocialSciencesStartingCompensation

StartingCompensation(inUSD)

Mathematics&NonSocialSciencesStartingCompensation

StartingCompensation(inUSD)

Thegraphsreflectwhatweexpecttoseeinasmuchastheyreflectthegivendata.Italsoseemsreflective
enoughofthegeneralpopulationatthegiventime.Itappearsthattherearethreereasonablysymmetricgraphs
andfourskewedgraphs.ThesymmetricgraphsincludethefieldsforComputerScience,Education,and
Humanities&SocialSciences.ThefourskewedgraphsareBusiness,Communication,Engineering,and
Mathematics&NonSocialSciences.Thosegraphsthataresymmetricfollowanormaldistribution,andthose
thatareskewedseemtofollowsomeotherdistribution.Onabasiclevel,thedifferencesbetweeneachfieldis
thatdifferentfieldsarefundeddifferently,differentpeoplehavedifferentskillsanddifferentinterestsequatingto
anoverallchaoticlookingdistributionifthedatawereallononegraph.Wesayonabasiclevelsincethe
authorschosenfieldissociology(asocialscience),andintheinterestofkeepingthisprojectfocussedonmath:
Wechoosetoforegothelengthiersociologicalexplanations.

5PointSummaries

Education5Point
Business5Point
Summary

Summary

Min
35250
Min
40745
InnerQuartile
38698.75
IQ
49229.25
Median
39857
Median
54729
OuterQuartile
41589
OQ
58885.25
Max
44591
Max
71803

Communications5
PointSummary
Min
IQ
Median
OQ
Max

33282
41689.75
45420
51103.25
62359

Engineering5Point
Summary

Min
IQ
Median
OQ
Max

MathandScience5
PointSummary

Min
IQ
Median
OQ
Max

46475
54975
60042
66394.75
80236

31920
38739
41939.5
45000.25
54261

ComputerScience5
PointSummary

Min
IQ
Median
OQ
Max

46785
56937.25
59836
62462.25
69490

Humanities&Social
Sciences5Point
Summary

Min
IQ
Median
OQ
Max

23114
33733.25
39600.5
42940.5
54220

Boxplots

CompensationinUSD/Year

CompensationinUSD/Year

Withtheseboxplotsinmind,Business,Engineering,andHumanities&SocialSciencesseemtohave
someoutliersthatskewthedatapresentedintheboxplotsbysomemeasure.Theseoutliersmayhaveoccurred
becauseBusinessandEngineeringarewellfunded(bythegovernmentandtechnologyindustry,respectively)
leadingtosomehighervalues.ManyofthethingsthattheHumanities&SocialSciencesworkwithalreadyhave
interactionwithsomeoftheotherfields,leadingtolessvaluesoccurringasvariousproblemsolvingexpenditures
arealreadyinvestedinbybeingaddressedatallinotherfields.Forexample,abusinesslookingtosellgoods
mightallocatesomeoftheirprofitsknowingtheywillmakemoreprofitsbyinvestinginsomeadvertising
(Communications)whichmaytheninturnspendsomemoneyonpsychology(SocialScience).However,bythe
timethemoneymakesittothefieldofpsychology,thoseinbusinessarealreadyhopingtoseeareturnontheir
investmentfromtheadvertisingtheycommissioned.Knowingthis,itmakessensethatlessmoneywouldbe
availableinthestartingpositionsofferedbyHumanities&SocialSciences,sincetheydontproducethesame
immediatelyobservableresultsseenintheotherfieldspresentedinthisproject.Thedataseemstobesuitablefor
normalzdistributionsandtdistributions,dependingonifwechoosetoanalyzetheproportionormean,
respectively.

ConfidenceIntervals

Aconfidenceintervaliscalculatedfromarangeofsamplevaluesinordertoestimatetherealvalueofa
populationparameter.Itspurposeistoestablishwhatthatparametermightbeatapreviouslydecidedorgiven
confidencelevel.

TheresultsofthecalculatedconfidenceintervalsfromthepageConfidenceIntervalscanbeinterpretedas
follows:

Weare95%confidentthattheintervalfrom$35,726.33to$41,907.68actuallyincludesthetruevalueof
theHumanitiesandSocialSciencesstartingcompensationpopulationmean.

Weare99%confidentthattheintervalfrom$5,800.87to$9,287.74includesinactualitythetruevalueof
theBusinessstartingcompensationpopulationstandarddeviation.

Weare80%confidentthattheintervalfrom.396to.464doesactuallycontainthetruevalueofthe
populationproportionforallstudentsgraduatingcompensated$50,000ormore.

Eachintervalremainsrelativelyconsistent,hoveringabout6relevantunitswithvaryingconfidencelevels.One
couldreasonablyestimatethestartingcompensationpackagemeanforHumanitiesandSocialSciences
occupationsisabout$39,000.ItwouldalsobereasonabletostatethatalthoughthoseintheBusinessfieldcould
haveastandarddeviationofjustover$9,000fromthepopulationmean,positiveornegative.Theactualvalueis
likelytobeless(astandarddeviationofabout$7,500forthoseenteringtheBusinessfieldismorereasonable
withtheconfidenceintervalinmind.)Finally,knowingthatanywherefromabout40%46%ofstudents
graduatingcanmakemorethan$50,000upongraduatingismotivational,evenifnoneofthosestudentsare
pursuingacareerinEducation(wherenograduatingstudentsexceededastartingcompensationpackageofeven
$45,000.00fromthegivendata.)

HypothesisTests

Ahypothesistestisaprocedurethattestsaclaimaboutapropertyofapopulation.Withtheabilitytotestaclaim
aboutapropertyofapopulation,weareabletoseeifaclaimisreasonable.

Eachresultforthegivenclaimswererejected.Thefirstclaimthatonewillmakeunder$35,000beginninginthe
fieldofEducationringspersonallyaccurate,althoughitisprobablynotreflectivefortheoverallpopulation.The
secondclaimthatupongraduatingfromcollege,astudentwillreceiveastartingcompensationpackageof
$40,000ormoredoesnotseemtobethecase.Itseemsmoreaccuratetostatethatastartingcompensation
packageforastudentgraduatingcollegeislessthan$40,000.

Reflection

Todoanintervalestimate,wemusthaveasimplerandomsample.Wealsoneedtoknowtheproceduretousefor
testingahypothesisorclaim.Thesimplerandomsampleofthepopulationthatweobtainmustbelargeenough
totest.Thesimplerandomsampleofthepopulationthatweobtainmustbelargeenoughtotest.Wemayalso
requirenormaldistributionifoursamplesizeislessthantherequisiteamountsthatvaryfromfivetothirty
dependingonthesituationofourapplicationofstatisticalmethods.Normaldistributionisrequiredforthe
confidenceintervalofapopulationstandarddeviation.Thegivensampleswereenoughtomeetthenecessary
conditions,althoughwithmoredatawemayhavebeenabletoimproveourresults.Errorsthatcouldhavebeen
madebyusingthisdataincludesomeoutliersforbothhighandlowvaluesaccompaniedbyasmallsamplesize.
Ifwewantedtoimprovethesamplingmethod,wecouldincreasethesamplesize.Fromthisstatisticalresearch,
weconcludethatreceivingadegreeincreasesthelikelihoodofagreaterstartingpackageinanyfield.

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