1. During the preliminary phases of a research project a team of researchers is looking to determine the number of observations that should be collected to examine the average number of monthly new business startups. Over the last year the maximum observed monthly startups was 18000. The minimum number of startups was 2000. Let = 0.10.

1. What value for the planning sigma should be used in this example?
2. How many observations are required if the margin of error is specified to be 250?
3. How many observations are required if the margin of error is specified to be 300?
4. Which margin of error would you choose if you were completing this study? Explain your reasoning.