Abstract

Recent propositions events in the U.S. have led many to change their traditional party affiliations
for a new movement called the Tea party. Others are still loyal to their traditional political parties
but yet have different views regarding some political issues. A statistical sample was taken from
a population of over 1000 answered surveys, statistical analysis was completed to determine if
there were associations between several different variables. There were several results that
supported some of our hypotheses as well as a few that did not. We can conclude that variables
such as ethnicity, handedness, and water consumption have no association with political issues.
On the other hand, political party affiliations, educational level and sex do have associations with
other variables.

Introduction
The Tea Party is not a real political party. It is a political movement to promote changes in the
government. It promotes a reduction in government spending, the national debt and federal
budget deficit. It opposes taxation in different levels. Its main goal is to go back to the original
interpretation of the constitution. The movement’s name derives from the iconic history event of
the Boston Tea Party, an anti-tax act. (The Tea Party Movement, 2011)

The recent passed Health Care bill has been very controversial. Many support the fund, but there
are also a many more who oppose the bill. The bill allows low income individuals to have health
insurance through state-based exchanges. It will also allow young people to remain in their
parent’s health insurance until their 26th birthday. Insurance companies will not be allowed to
deny coverage to anyone with a preexisting medical condition. Firms with more than 50 workers
that do not offer medical insurance will face fines. The cost of the bill is calculated to be around
$940 billion. The bill will be paid for by new taxes, fees on industries involved in health care,
and cuts in projected spending growth for existing government health efforts, primarily
Medicare. (Reuters, 2010)

Proposition 8 was a ballot proposition that states that marriage can only be constituted by a man
and a woman. The goal of the ballot was to make gay marriages illegal in California. By
restricting the definition of marriage, the ballot “overturned the California Supreme Court's
ruling of In re Marriage Cases that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.”
(California Proposition 8 (2008)) The bill was passed in the November elections of 2008.

The death penalty is the judicial process that leads to a person’s death for committing an offense.
Today there are currently 34 states in the United States with the death penalty. In the United
States, a lethal injection is given to the person sentenced to the death penalty. Those who oppose
the death penalty argue that” it is a failed government program, it is a waste of money, and it
doesn't fit with the idea of limited government.” (Death Penalty Information Center, 2011)
It is hypothesized that there is a positive association between a person's weight, height, shoe size,
and ring size. It is also hypothesized that a there is an association between an individual’s
political party affiliation with their views regarding President Obama's reelection, passing of the
recent health-bill, and the death penalty. It is hypothesized that there is relationship between
gross income and gender as well as it hypothesized that there is no association between
handedness and the amount of water drunk or with the death penalty view. It is also hypothesized
that there is an association between ethnicity and the change in political party affiliation. Also, it
is hypothesized that there is a positive association between education level and annual gross
income. However, it is hypothesized that there is no relationship between an individual's
ethnicity and their views regarding Proposition 8.

Methods

Participants
Students from several classes randomly surveyed ten people. From the surveys answered, a
sample for this study was randomly chosen using a systematic 1-in-k random sample. The
sample of this study consisted of 40 participants. Of the 40 participants, male and female
percentages were 50%. Thirty is the average age of the participants. The participants ethnicity is
made up by 57.5 percent White, 20 percent Hispanic,10 percent black, and the remaining 12.5
percent other. The sample's educational level is distributed as follow: 52.5 percent are high
school graduates, 22.5 percent have an associate's degree, 15 percent have a bachelor's degree,
2.5 percent have a PhD, and for the remaining 7.5 percent the educational level is not known.
Research design
This study was an observation- cross sectional. There was no manipulation of the environment
and the information was just analyzed not altered. 8 of the survey questions were open answer
type of questions. Question 8, regarding with education level was numerically coded the
following way: high school graduate=12, associate’s degree= 14, bachelor's degree= 16, master's
degree= 18, and PhD= 20.
Measurements
A survey was conducted. The survey consisted of 23 questions. Each student in the class
surveyed ten random individuals. The survey answers were shared with the whole class. The
total number of surveys answered was 1094, however the sample size for this study was of 40.
The sample size was determined based on the Central Limit Theorem, which states that as a rule
of thumb a sample size should be of at least 30. The sample was randomly chosen using the
systematic 1-in-k random sampling.
Procedures
A 23 question survey was provided to the statistics students by the professor. Each student
randomly had ten people answer the survey. The surveys were anonymously answered, for the
survey did not ask the person to identify themselves. The answers to the survey were not verified
in any way, therefore there is probability for chance error. The survey answers were enter at the
following website: http://tinyurl.com/2v3tkur. The professor provided us with all the answers to
all the surveys answered, the was a total of 1094 answered surveys. From this data, students were
to take a random sample. A random sample of 40 was chosen using the systematic 1-in-k random
sampling. The data was divided into groups of 27, using the calculator a random starting point
was chosen by entering RandInt(1,27,1). In this case the random starting point was the survey in
location 5, the survey in this location was the first participant in the sample. Each survey in the
location 5 within the groups of 27 became part of the participants of this study. The data was
analyzed to determine the whether or not there was a corraltion between the variables discussed
in the introduction. Proper graphical displays were created and described along with statistical
analysis of the data.

Results

The results revealed that some of our hypotheses were supported while others were not.
According to this study, the hypothesis regarding gender having a correlation with annual gross
income was not supported. There is no correlation between the two as seen in the box plots in
Fig. 1, which shows that there is no difference in the median annual gross income between males
and females. The minimum values for both genders was 0, the median was used as the
measurement of the center because the data was skewed. In the males the maximum value seen
was of 90000, this is due to the fact that this person surveyed had a PhD, and as a result his
income is much bigger compared to the rest of the sample population. The median annual gross
income for both males and females was 15000.

Table 1. The table below shows the five number summary

For males and females regarding annual gross income.
Female Male
Min Value 0 0
1st Quartile 0 0
Median 15000 15000
3rd Quartile 365000 45000
Max Value 75000 90000 Figure 1. Box plot of female (top) and male
(bottom) annual gross income.

However the hypothesis of there being an association between political party affiliation and the
health care bill was not supported by the data. As it can be seen in Table 2, the participants from
different political parties seem to share their views regarding the health care bill. The odds ratio
of democrats in favor to republicans in favor is 1.1250:1. The 95% confidence interval of 0.216
to 5.855 suggests that the difference between democrats and republicans is not statistically
significant.
Table 2. Table representing the political party and health care bill relationship.
Yes No Undecided
Democrats 6 8 2

Republicans 4 6 6

Independent 1 0 3
Other 0 1 3

The hypothesis regarding the participant’s political party and the death penalty was supported by
the study. Table 3 shows how democrats are more likely to be against the death penalty contrary
to republicans who are more likely to support it. The odds ratio of democrats in favor of the
death penalty to republicans is 0.4861:1. However, the 95% confidence interval for the ratio is
0.109 to 2.16 suggests that the difference in not statistically significant.
Table 3. The Table below shows the frequencies regarding political party association and death penalty.
Yes No Undecided

Democrats 7 8 1
Republicans 9 5 2

Independent 2 2 0
Other 3 1 0

The hypothesis regarding the association between the participant’s political party and President
Obama’s reelection was also supported by the study. As seen in Fig. 4, democrats are more like
to believe that Obama will be reelected than republicans. The odds ratio of democrats to
republicans that believe Obama will be reelected is 8.1:1. The 95% confidence interval or .1233
to 53.2 suggests that the difference between democrats and republicans is indeed statistically
significant.
Table 4. Table representing the percentages regarding Obama's reelection views and poilitical party affiliations.
No Yes Undecided
Democrat 13% 23% 5%
Republican 23% 5% 13%

Independent 5% 0% 5%
Other 5% 0% 5%

The hypothesis regarding handedness was also supported. As can be seen by the box plots in Fig.
2, there is no association between a participant’s handedness and the amount of water consumed
by them. Since the data was skewed, the median was used as the measurement of the center. The
median amount of water consumed by right-handed people was 36, the median for left-handed
people was 32 and the median for ambidextrous was 134. The median for ambidextrous
participants was so high due to the fact that there were only two ambidextrous in the study’s
sample.
Table 5. Table below shows the five number summary
for handedness and water consumption.

Handedness Right Left Ambidextrous

Min Value 0 12 100
1st Quartile 18 18 100
Median 36 32 134
3rd Quartile 68.5 77 168
Max Value 256 84 168

Figure 2. The box plots above reveal how there is no association between handedness and water consumption.

As for the hypothesis regarding handedness and participants view’s regarding the death penalty
was supported. As seen in Table 6, the views regarding the death penalty seem to be distributed
more or less similar with reference to handedness. The right handed data has such high values
compared to the other two because they made up most of the participants in the study.
Table 6. The bar graph above displays the data regarding handedness and death penalty.
No Yes Undecided
Ambidextrous 1 1 0
Left 2 3 0
Right 13 17 3

The hypothesis regarding the association between the change in political party and ethnicity was
not supported. As seen in Table 7, the number of people that did not change is much higher than
the number of people that did change regardless of ethnicity. The numbers for whites is much
higher than the rest given that they made up the biggest proportion of the sample population. The
odds ratio of white to other ethnicities is 1:0.075. The 95% confidence interval of 0.07 to 8.089
suggests that the difference between whites and others is not statistically significant.
Table 7. Table displaying data of ethnocity and change in political party affiliation.
White Hispanic Black Other

Democrat 2 0 0 0

Republican 2 0 0 1

Other 2 0 0 0

Not 18 7 4 4
Change
The hypothesis regarding the question of whether or not there is an association between
proposition 8 and ethnicity seems to be supported. Table 8 shows the percentages and
frequencies seen in each category. For the most part, it seems that there are people supporting the
proposition regardless of the ethnicity. The odds ratio evaluation revealed that for every 1
Hispanic in favor of the population there is 0.8664 white in favor, and a 95% confidence interval
of 0.162 and 4.846 shows that this difference in not statistically significant.
Table 8. The Table below shows the frequencies of supporting Proposition 8 based on ethnicity.
Yes No

White 13 11

Hispanic 4 3

Black 3 1

Other 4 1

Fig. 3 clearly supports the hypothesis regarding the correlation between educational level and
annual gross income. As seen in the figure, the higher the educational level a person has, the
higher the annual gross income is. Spearman’s correlation r value of 1 provides enough evidence
to suggest that there is a strong positive linear correlation between educational level and annual
gross income.

Correlation Between Education Level and Annual Gross

Income
100000
Average Annual Gross Income

80000 1- None of the above

2- High School Graduate
60000 3- Associates Degree
4- B/A or B/S
40000
5- PhD
20000

0
1 2 3 4 5

Educational Level

Figure 3. The scatter plot above reveals that there is a correlation between a person’s educational level and their annual
gross income.
The hypothesis that there was a correlation between weight and finger size was supported by the
data results. As seen in Fig. 4, as the weight of the participant increases, the finger size also
increases for the data is somewhat linear. A Pearson’s correlation analysis gives us an r value of
0.6910 which leads us to conclude that there is a positive association between the two variables.

Correlation Between Ring Size & Weight

15
14
13
12
11
Ring Size

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300

Weight (lb.)

Figure 4. The scatter plot above shows the linear trend between weight and ring size.

The hypothesis regarding height and shoe size correlation was supported, as the height increases;
the shoe size also seems to increase for the data is somewhat linear as seen in Fig 5. The data
seems to have a linear trend therefore Pearson’s correlation was used to determine the r value.
An r value of 0.8156 suggests that there is positive linear trend between shoe size and height.

Correlation between Shoe Size and Height

80
75
Height (in.)

70
65
60
55
50
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Shoe Size

Figure 5. The scatter plot above shows a linear trend between height and shoe size.
 Discussion
Although some of our hypotheses were supported by our statistical analysis of the data, there
were a few that were not supported. Among the hypotheses that were not supported was the
relationship between annual gross income and gender. According to our sample statistics, there is
no statistically significant difference between the median annual gross income of males and
females. The data was heavily skewed and many of the data points for annual gross income were
zeros for both males and females and this could have been the reason for which the data was so
heavily skewed to the left and also the reason for which the hypothesis was not supported.
Previous studies have showed that in general males have a higher income than females. (Male-
female income disparity in the US. 2011)
Although the hypothesis regarding the political party and Obama’s reelection believes was
supported by the results, the hypotheses regarding political party and the death penalty and
health care bill were not. As seen in the results the difference between democrats and republicans
regarding Obama’s reelection was statistically significant. However the other two relations were
not associated. A chi square test was not performed because the assumptions were not satisfied;
therefore the odds ratio was used instead to analyze the data.
Other hypotheses that were not supported by the results are those regarding political parties and
ethnicity, according to the results there is no significant association between these variables.
Once again, the numbers in the categories were not large enough to perform independence tests.
The low data values seen in the sample might have affected the results for there were a lot of
zeros in the different categories.
The hypotheses regarding handedness were supported. The results suggest that there is no
association between handedness and death penalty and water consumption. The skewed data in
the relationship between water consumption and handedness might be given to the fact that there
were only 2 ambidextrous in the sample compared to 33 right handed.
Other hypotheses that were also supported include the associations between ring size, weight,
shoe size and height. The graphs and statistical analysis of Pearson’s correlations supports the
hypotheses that there are positive linear trends between these variables. Another hypothesis that
was clearly supported by the sample statistic was the correlation between annual gross income
and educational level. Spearman’s correlation of the data supported the hypothesis. The results
were probably given by the fact that the sample had several people that fitted in the different
educational level categories except for the PhD where there was only one person that fitted in
that category. It has been proven through several researches that the higher the educational level,
the higher the income gets. (Jamison Et.al. 2006)
 References

California Proposition 8 (2008). 2011. Wikipedia.

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8_%282008%29>
Jamison, E.A., Jamison D.T., Hanushek E.A., (2006)The Effects of Education Quality on Income
Growth and Mortality Decline. NBER Working Papers Series.
< http://edpro.stanford.edu/>
Male-female income disparity in the US. (2011). Wikipedia
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male%2%80%93female_income_disparity_in_the_United_
States>
New Voices: “The Conservative Argument to Abolish the Death Penalty.”(2011). Death Penalty
Information Center.
< http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/new-voices-conservative-argument-abolish-death-
penalty>
Reuters. 2010. Health Care Bill: The Key Points You Need to Know.NY Daily News.com.
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-03-22/news/27059676_1_health-insurance-senate-
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement>