A psychologist wishes to estimate the mean IQ of students at one college. He picks a
random sample of 49 students from the college, measures each student’s IQ, and obtains
the following 95% confidence interval for the population mean, µ: 115 to 125. How would
you interpret this confidence interval?
Based on a sample of size 25, a researcher obtains an estimate of 64.4 inches for the mean
height of all women aged 30–40. At the 95% confidence level, the margin of error is
1.2 inches. Do you agree with the interpretation below? If not, explain why not and give a
correct interpretation.
Researcher’s interpretation: “We can be 95% confident that the height of a randomly
selected woman will differ from 64.4 inches by at most 1.2 inches.”
Suppose you wish to use the z–interval procedure to obtain a confidence interval for the
population mean. If the sample size is large, but the data contain outliers, is it reasonable to
use the z–interval procedure? How should you proceed?
Suppose that you wish to obtain a 95% confidence interval for a population mean. The
population is normally distributed, the sample size is 20, and the population standard
deviation is unknown. The correct procedure to use is the t–interval procedure. If you
mistakenly use the z–interval procedure, will the resulting confidence interval be too wide
or too narrow? Will the true confidence level associated with this interval be greater than
or less than 95%?
A researcher estimates that the mean systolic blood pressure for women aged between 18
and 24 is 118 mmHg. At the 95% confidence level, the margin of error is 2.4 mmHg. How
would you interpret this margin of error?