PUAF 610: Problem Set #6

PUAF 610	Quantitative Methods in Policy Analysis		Fall 2007
	Problem Set #6

1.	Use the milkaukee.xls data set to reproduce the analyses that were presented in the class notes:
	A.	Compare the average reading scores of Choice students in 1991 to the national average. State null and alternative hypotheses, test the null hypothesis, compute the corresponding p value, and give your conclusions in plain English.
	B.	Compare the average reading scores of students in the Choice program to those of low-income students in the MPS sample in 1991. State null and alternative hypotheses, test the null hypothesis, compute the corresponding p value, and give your conclusions in plain English.

2.	Use the welfare.xls dataset to answer the following questions about the participants in the Arkansas welfare-to-work experiment:
	A.	Did the experimental group have a higher average income than the control group in the second year (earn5+earn6+earn7+earn8)? State null and alternative hypothesis, test the null hypothesis, compute the corresponding p value, and give your conclusions in plain English.
	B.	Did the experimental group have a higher average increase in income than the control group in the second year (earn5+earn6+earn7+earn8) compared to the prior year (pearn4+pearn3+pearn2+pearn1)? State null and alternative hypothesis, test the null hypothesis, compute the corresponding p value, and give your conclusions in plain English.

3.	In response to studies showing that people who worked with benzene had 20 times the incidence of leukemia, OSHA lowered the maximum permissible average concentration in the workplace to 1 ppm. Suppose that 16 air samples are collected in a steel plant over a period of 1 month, and that the mean benzene concentration is 0.7 ppm (s = 0.8 ppm). Based on the sample, what is the probability that the plant is in compliance? in violation?