Prompt

The National Health Survey uses household interviews to describe the health-related habits of U.S. adults. From these interviews they estimate population parameters associated with behaviors such as alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, and hours of sleep for all U.S. adults.

In the 2005-2007 report, they estimated that 30% of all current smokers started smoking before the age of 16. Imagine that we want to verify this estimate. So we randomly select a sample of 100 smokers and calculate the proportion who started smoking before the age of 16. How much error do we expect in the sample proportions if the 30% is correct for the population overall? Use the applet and a give an error based on 2 standard deviations.

Below is the applet we used in the simulations on the previous page. Here are the directions.

• Use the first dropdown list to select the appropriate population proportion p.
• Use the second dropdown list to select the appropriate sample size n.
• Check theShow Standard Deviation Bars box.
• Click the Run Simulation (5000 Samples) button.