A common perception is that people suffering from chronic illness may be able to delay their deaths until after a special upcoming event, like Christmas. Out of 12,028 deaths from cancer in either the week before or after Christmas, 6052 happened in the week before (Young and Hade 2004).

a. What is the best estimate of the proportion of deaths out of this time interval that occurred in the week before Christmas?

b. What is the 95% confidence interval for this estimate?

c. Use this confidence interval to ask, “Are these data consistent with a true value of 50% for the percentage of deaths in the week before Christmas?” Do these data support the common perception?