Question $7$

As part of a significant restructuring of product lines, AJAX Pharmaceuticals $($a fictitious name for a real

company$)$ laid off $24$ of $55$ assembly line workers in its Pittsburgh manufacturing plant. Citing the ADEA

$($Age Discrimination and Employment Act$),11$ of the laid$-$off workers claimed they were discriminated

against on the basis of age and sued AJAX for $$5,000,000.$ Management disputed the claim, saying that

because the workers were essentially interchangeable, they had used random sampling to choose the

$24$ workers to be terminated. The attached data file lists the $55$ assembly line workers and identifies

which were terminated and which remained active. Plaintiffs are denoted by an asterisk. These data

were used by both the plaintiffs and the defendants to determine whether the layoffs had an adverse

impact on workers age $40$ and over and to establish the credibility of management's random sampling

claim.

Using whatever statistical methods you think are appropriate, build a case that supports the plaintiffs'

position. $($Call documents related to this issue Exhibit A$.)$ Similarly, build a case that supports the

defendants' position. $($Call these documents Exhibit B$.)$ Then discuss which of the two cases is more

convincing and why.