Do You Prefer Pain over Solitude?

A study finds that college students found it unpleasant to sit alone and think.¹The same article describes a second study in which college students appear to prefer receiving an electric shock to sitting in solitude. The article states that "when asked to spend 15 minutes in solitary thought, 12 of 18 men and 6 of 24 women voluntarily gave themselves at least one electric shock." Use this information to estimate the difference between men and women in the proportion preferring pain over solitude. The standard error of the estimate is 0.154.

Let group 1 be men and group 2 be women.

¹Bower B, "People will take pain over being left alone with their thoughts,"Science News, 186(3), August 9, 2014, p. 12.

(a) Give notation for the quantity that is being estimated.

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p

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p

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2

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x

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(b) Give notation for the quantity that gives the best estimate.

p

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p

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p

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1

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(c) Give the value for the quantity that gives the best estimate.

Round your answer to three decimal places.

Best estimate =Enter your answer in accordance to the question statement

(d) Give a95

%

confidence interval for the quantity being estimated.

Round your answers to three decimal places.

The interval isEnter your answer in accordance to item (d) of the question statement

toEnter your answer in accordance to item (d) of the question statement

.

(e) Is "no difference" between males and females a plausible value for the difference in proportions?

Yes

No