The Harvard School of Public Health, in its College Alcohol Study Survey, has su

Question

The Harvard School of Public Health, in its College Alcohol Study Survey, has surveyed college students in about 200 colleges in 1993, 1997, 1999, and 2001. The survey asks students questions about their drinking habits. Binge drinking is defined as 5 drinks in a row for males and 4 drinks in a row for females. The table shows results from the 2001 study, cross-tabulating subjects' gender by whether they have participated in binge drinking Binge Drinking Status Female (a) Identify the response variable and the explanatory variable. Explanatory variable: (b) Report the cell counts of subjects who were (i) male binge drinkers (ii) female binge drinkers (c) Can you compare the counts in (b) to answer the question, "Is there a difference between male and female students in the proportion who binge drink?" Explain. O Yes, the counts given in (b) can answer the question. O No, the counts do not make an accurate comparison for the question. (d) Construct a contingency table that shows the conditional proportions of sampled students who do or do not binge drink, given gender. Interpret. Round answers to two decimpes when needed Gender Binge (e) Based on (d), does it seem that there is an association between binge drinking and gender? Explain. O It appears that women are more likely than are men to be binge drinkers. O It appears that there is no association between binge drinking and O It appears that men are more likely than are women to be binge drinkers

Explanation / Answer

Part (a)

Response variable: Number of Binge Drinkers

Explanatory variable: Gender of the drinker ANSWER

Part (b)

Cell counts:

Male Binge Drinkers 2008

Female Binge Drinkers 2854 ANSWER

Part (c)

No, these counts cannot be used to make comparison. Only proportions can bring out the contrast. So, gender-wise total number of participants in the survey also must be known. ANSWER

Part (d) Proportions

Gender

Proportion

Total

Binge Drinker

Non-Binge Drinker

Male

0.5116

0.4884

1.0000

Female

0.4089

0.5911

1.0000

Total

0.4459

0.5541

1.0000

ANSWER

Part (e)

It does seem there is an association between binge drinking habit and gender. While the percentage of binge drinkers is 51 among male, it is only 41 among female. Thus,

It appears that men are more likely than are women to be binge drinkers. ANSWER

[Note: The above difference of 10% sounds significant. But, in reality, whether 10% is significant or not can be decided only by a Chi-square test of Independence.]

Gender

Proportion

Total

Binge Drinker

Non-Binge Drinker

Male

0.5116

0.4884

1.0000

Female

0.4089

0.5911

1.0000

Total

0.4459

0.5541

1.0000

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