OCR MEI Further Statistics Minor Specimen — Question 6

Exam BoardOCR MEI
ModuleFurther Statistics Minor (Further Statistics Minor)
SessionSpecimen
TopicChi-squared distribution

6 At a bird feeding station, birds are captured and ringed. If a bird is recaptured, the ring enables it to be identified. The table below shows the number of recaptures, \(x\), during a period of a month, for each bird of a particular species in a random sample of 40 birds.
Number of
recaptures, \(x\)
012345678910
Frequency255910431010
  1. The sample mean of \(x\) is 3.4. Calculate the sample variance of \(x\).
  2. Briefly comment on whether the results of part (i) support a suggestion that a Poisson model might be a good fit to the data. The screenshot below shows part of a spreadsheet for a \(\chi ^ { 2 }\) test to assess the goodness of fit of a Poisson model. The sample mean of 3.4 has been used as an estimate of the Poisson parameter. Some values in the spreadsheet have been deliberately omitted.
    ABCDE
    1Number of recapturesObserved frequencyPoisson probabilityExpected frequencyChi-squared contribution
    20 or 170.14685.87370.2160
    3250.9560
    4390.21868.74470.0075
    54100.18587.43300.8865
    6540.12645.0544
    7\(\geq 6\)50.12955.17830.0061
  3. State the null and alternative hypotheses for the test.
  4. Calculate the missing values in cells
    • C3,
    • D3 and
    • E6.
    • Complete the test at the \(10 \%\) significance level.
    • The screenshot below shows part of a spreadsheet for a \(\chi ^ { 2 }\) test for a different species of bird. Find the value of the Poisson parameter used.
    ABCDE
    1Number of recapturesObserved frequencyPoisson probabilityExpected frequencyChi-squared contribution
    31100.2571612.85790.6352
    4270.2700213.50083.1302
    53150.189019.45063.2587
    6\(\geq 4\)110.161368.06791.0656