Suppose you and your colleague wish to test the hypothesis of the "Freshman 15," the alleged phenomenon of freshmen gaining 15 pounds in their first year of college. On the first day of classes, your colleague selects the first seven first year students who agree to be weighed. The mean weight of the seven students is 143 pounds.

1. State your research question and a hypothesis.

2. Given what you know about random error, explain to your colleague the reasons why you would not

conclude that the mean weight of the incoming class is 143 pounds.

3. What might you find if you were to repeat this process and take multiple samples of seven students and calculate the mean for each of these samples?

4. What if your colleague weighed 100 students but used a different scale for each student?

5. Discuss how you would conduct a study of the "Freshman 15" that would overcome these sources of error.

Number all your responses to each question