Exercise 17-13:

Exercise 17-13: Political Viewpoints

17-13, 24-10

The 2004 General Social Survey asked a random

sample of 1309 American adults to report

their political viewpoint as liberal, moderate,

or conservative. The number who classified

themselves as moderate was 497.

a. Can you determine whether or not more

than one-third of the sample consider

themselves to be political moderates? If

so, answer the question. If not, explain

why not.

b. Suppose that one-third of the population

consider themselves to be political moderates.

What then would be the probability that 497

or more in a random sample of 1309 people

would call themselves political moderates?

[Hint: Answer this question by determining the

p-value of the relevant test.]

c. How would you expect the p-value to change if

the sample had contained 327 people, of whom

124 called themselves political moderates?

Explain. [Hint: Note that the sample size and

number of moderates have been reduced by a

factor of four.]

d. Determine the p-value based on the sample

data in part c. Was your answer to part c

correct?