Overview Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, and in recent decades has been responsible for much of the heating of the Earth's atmosphere. However, unlike carbon dioxide (which stays in the atmosphere for centuries), methane has a much shorter span, lasting only about 10 years before it breaks down. Thus reducing methane emissions is thought to be an effective strategy in the global fight to curb climate change, because it will translate into temperature change relatively quickly. While methane has several natural sources, human activity from coal mining, gas drilling and raising sheep and cattle is a major contributor globally. The current Australian government is considering signing a pledge to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030 (compared to 2020 levels). For the last two years, there have been record rises in methane levels in the atmosphere; however, there is ongoing work to determine the causes of this. Measuring and estimating methane output from different activities is highly technical, and scientists across the globe are exploring ways of simplifying these estimates without loss of accuracy. A group of researchers have carried out an investigation to compare the loss of accuracy in estimating total methane emissions for subsistence level farms in sub-Saharan Africa using the best known methods ("gold standard") as well as a method which is much easier to implement and more cost effective ("simple method").

The study and the data A hypothetical study was conducted in Africa by a group of researchers to compare the estimated total methane emissions of cattle using 100 animals. For each animal, methane emissions were estimated using either the gold standard method or the simple method. You have been provided with a dataset that contains the following columns: - ID: subject ID - Sex - Method: Estimation method (gold standard or simple method) - Methane: Estimated daily methane production

QUESTION

Explore and analyse the data using R

1. Your task is to determine if the simple method is as effective (or worse) at measuring daily methane production as the gold standard method. Based on your understanding of this data, describe: (a) The response variable, including what type of variable it is (i.e., nominal, ordinal, continuous or discrete; include a justification for your answer) (b) The explanatory variable, including what type of variable it is (i.e., nominal, ordinal, continuous or discrete; include a justification for your answer) (c) The research question, stated in terms of the response and explanatory variables (your research question should include the word 'difference') (d) The Null and Alternative hypotheses. (e) Describe any other variables that are present in the data and the type of variables they are.

Data file

ID	Methane	Sex	Method
10539	147.3336421	F	Gold standard
10441	69.90506403	F	Gold standard
10300	174.5178201	F	Gold standard
852	131.2138398	M	Gold standard
914	65.75540925	F	Gold standard
10034	120.0451136	F	Gold standard
1425	55.80212408	F	Gold standard
397	39.44316099	M	Gold standard
10737	182.3592885	F	Gold standard
10484	71.58503103	F	Gold standard
109	94.13166839	F	Gold standard
260	71.64354657	F	Gold standard
10043	73.70779857	F	Gold standard
10673	124.5805251	F	Gold standard
10027	159.375211	F	Gold standard
10049	113.0254278	F	Gold standard
10934	143.4704792	F	Gold standard
456	55.06321217	M	Gold standard
10279	58.3920156	F	Gold standard
1034	110.3599411	F	Gold standard
10538	179.567955	F	Gold standard
10577	241.9215687	F	Gold standard
10946	163.9181949	F	Gold standard
10865	89.69800971	F	Gold standard
10265	126.7738666	F	Gold standard
10614	266.345013	F	Gold standard
10823	142.4773278	F	Gold standard
10046	161.3100474	F	Gold standard
10716	129.0970018	F	Gold standard
10267	126.1108216	F	Gold standard
10185	103.8220215	F	Gold standard
10471	112.4174466	F	Gold standard
804	129.7464911	M	Gold standard
10066	247.468737	F	Gold standard
795	130.72278	M	Gold standard
798	54.59537108	M	Gold standard
10705	182.3713081	F	Gold standard
951	77.225482	F	Gold standard
10936	133.5667427	F	Gold standard
282	54.57164769	F	Gold standard
10791	185.7254385	F	Gold standard
455	101.3911006	M	Gold standard
813	104.1960227	M	Gold standard
10814	144.5561952	F	Gold standard
10497	162.271638	F	Gold standard
693	93.46602381	M	Gold standard
10369	155.9276886	F	Gold standard
10741	77.46324431	F	Gold standard
10227	103.2492569	F	Gold standard
10902	167.5738593	F	Gold standard
2110	46.17525315	F	Simple method
12847	88.48495759	F	Simple method
12166	143.9248705	F	Simple method
12099	84.91636066	F	Simple method
12769	120.6901556	F	Simple method
3102	83.57693259	M	Simple method
12011	137.584446	F	Simple method
2863	98.86698758	F	Simple method
2052	54.5935724	F	Simple method
2060	50.83260842	F	Simple method
3117	65.14511563	M	Simple method
2276	80.58522933	F	Simple method
2492	34.44180402	M	Simple method
12234	86.75019997	F	Simple method
3186	42.7840179	F	Simple method
3097	77.81982364	M	Simple method
12771	121.8276896	F	Simple method
12137	179.0236463	F	Simple method
12628	150.6685666	F	Simple method
12179	91.02518781	F	Simple method
2079	85.35015412	F	Simple method
2415	57.38157771	M	Simple method
12271	137.9716464	F	Simple method
12949	174.2131969	F	Simple method
12218	105.0355043	F	Simple method
12266	158.1443676	F	Simple method
12447	79.3281386	F	Simple method
12085	128.9058199	F	Simple method
12231	110.9338094	F	Simple method
12564	200.1424542	F	Simple method
2142	80.17582282	F	Simple method
2238	85.51974598	F	Simple method
12297	115.3277479	F	Simple method
12784	126.7600908	F	Simple method
12180	152.1584268	F	Simple method
12358	68.35288133	F	Simple method
2546	80.0625612	M	Simple method
2918	123.9812724	F	Simple method
12509	232.9787244	F	Simple method
12675	94.18591356	F	Simple method
2895	56.52389933	F	Simple method
2894	72.95614865	F	Simple method
12734	119.9579609	F	Simple method
2236	60.00874587	F	Simple method
2219	27.89466269	F	Simple method
2796	119.6780266	M	Simple method
2257	78.68610773	F	Simple method
12314	117.3900151	F	Simple method
2788	31.72637873	M	Simple method
12063	192.2567834	F	Simple method