LAB 7: Hypothesis Testing for a Population Proportion
Before you begin this lab, make sure that the Add-In component DDXL is available.
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To do this click on the Add-Ins button in Excel and look for DDXL on the far left hand side of
your screen. If the DDXL feature is not shown, ask your instructor for help.
Purpose: In this lab, we will use Excel to test a hypothesis about a population proportion.
Testing a Hypothesis about a Population Proportion
To show this procedure, we will use the following example. A clinical trial involved treating flu patients
with Tamiflu, which is a medicine intended to attack the influenza virus and stop it from causing flu
symptoms. Among 724 patients treated with Tamiflu, 72 experienced nausea as an adverse reaction.
Use a 0.05 significance level to test the claim that the rate of nausea is greater than the 6% rate
experienced by flu patients given a placebo.
In order to use Excel to test a hypothesis about a population proportion, we will need to use the
following steps.
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Open a new Excel worksheet.
Go to Save As and save this worksheet entitled “HypTestProportion”.
In cell A1 type in “n”. This is the value that represents the sample size.
In cell A2 type in “proportion”. This is the value that represents p-hat.
In cell A4 type in “trials” and in cell A5 type in “successes”.
In cell B1 type in “724” and in cell B2 type in “.10”. .10 is found by dividing the number of
successes by the sample size.
In cell B4 type in “724” and in cell B5 type in “72”.
Click Add-Ins on the menu bar and select the DDXL option. Then select Hypothesis Tests.
In the Hypothesis Test dialog box, choose Summ 1 Var Prop Test. (Make sure that the box in
front of the First Row is variable names is unchecked.) Click on the pencil icon under the
heading “num successes” and enter the cell address B5. Click on the pencil icon under the
heading “num trials” and enter the cell address B4. Click OK.
A dialog box will open that requires more information.
a) Click on Set pθ. Enter the value of the population proportion that can be found in the
claim. For this example it is .06. Click OK.
b) Set the significance level by clicking on the appropriate value. For this example, click on
.05.
c) Select the alternative hypothesis. For this problem click on p > pθ since the problem
involves greater than 6%.
d) Click on Compute.
A Proportion Test dialog box displays the information needed for performing a test of
hypothesis for a proportion.
12. Click on the title bar of the box entitled “Proportion Test”. From the Edit menu choose Copy
Window. Then go to your Excel worksheet, right click, and paste the window into the
spreadsheet.
13. Save your worksheet.
Use your results and DDXL to answer the following questions.
1. Explain what the different results that are given in your Test Summary section represent.
2. The Test Results section tells us to reject the null hypothesis for this problem. Why did
DDXL decide to reject the null?
3. Explain how you could use the traditional method to test the claim that the rate of nausea is
greater than 6%. What is missing from the results to use this method?
4. Using the results obtained, write an interpretation for this hypothesis test.
5. Does nausea appear to be a concern for those given the Tamiflu treatment? Explain.
6. In a recent study of internet usage, a random sample of 3,011 adults was surveyed. 73% of
those surveyed said that they use the Internet.
a) Use this information and DDXL to test the claim that less than 75% of all adults use
the Internet. What are the sample size, number of successes, number of trials, and
p-hat?
b) Copy and paste your results into your Excel worksheet under previous work.
c) Write an interpretation for your hypothesis test.
d) Is it okay for a newspaper reporter to write that “less than 3/4 of all adults use the
Internet”? Explain using the results of your hypothesis test.
e) Print out your worksheet including the results from your two different hypothesis
tests from this lab.
Be sure to include the following in your lab report:
A. Cover sheet with a summary of the lab you did. It should be one to two paragraphs.
B. Answer all the questions stated above on the answer sheets provided to get full credit.
C. Attach the worksheet that you were asked to print that includes the results from two
different hypothesis tests.