The Chicago Tribuneof July 21, 1995, reported on a study by a fourth-grade student named Beth Peres. In the process of collecting evidence in support of her campaign for a higher allowance, she polled her classmates on what they received as an allowance. She was surprised to discover that the 11 girls who responded reported an average allowance of $2.63 per week, but the 7 boys reported an average of $3.18, 21% more than the girls. At the same time, boys had to do fewer chores to earn their allowance than did girls. The story achieved considerable national prominence and raised the question of whether the income disparity for adult women relative to adult men may actually have its start very early in life.

[Kiernan, L. (1995, July 21). Girl finds salary gap could begin at home. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-07-21/news/9507210261_1_allowance-two-other-girls-boys]

What is the dependent variable in this study and how is it measured?

Weekly allowance for girls measured in dollars and cents

Weekly allowance measured in dollars and cents

The number of boys in the study

Gender of the child as male or female

What is the independent variable in this study and how is it measured?

Gender of the child as male or female

The number of children in the study

Weekly allowance measured in dollars and cents

Weekly allowance for boys measured in dollars and cents

What kind of a sample is the investigator dealing with here?

A selected sample

A representative sample

A stratified random sample

A random sample

How could the characteristics of the sample influence the results the investigator obtained?Check all that apply.

The students will definitely tell the truth because they know each other.

The age of the students would influence the overall mean.

The students don't know each other, so they are less likely to give socially appropriate responses than accurate responses.

The fact that the children are classmates could lead them to give socially appropriate rather than accurate responses.

How might the investigator go about "random sampling"?

Asking every other child in her class

Assigning each student in the school a number, and matching those up with numbers drawn from a random number table

Asking all of her friends in the entire school

Asking all of the kids who play jump rope at recess

How might the investigator go about "random assignment"?

She could include the same numbers of boys and girls in the study.

She cannot.

She could include only girls in the study.

She could flip a coin to assign each child an allowance amount.

If random assignment is not possible in this study, does that have negative implications for the validity of the study?

Lack of random assignment always has negative implication for the validity of a study regardless of the variables considered.

In this case, the lack of random assignment will hurt this study.

In this case, the lack of random assignment won't hurt the study because of the nature of the variable under consideration.

Lack of random assignment never has negative implications for the validity of a study.

What are some of the variables that might influence the outcome of this study, separate from any true population differences between boys' and girls' incomes?Check all that apply.

Parents giving girls more allowance than boys

Parents giving boys more allowance than girls

The desire of some children to minimize their reported allowance

The desire of some children to exaggerate their reported allowance

The desire of some children to be honest and report their actual allowance

In the following table, indicate whether the statistical feature reported on each line is descriptive or inferential.

Feature	Inferential	Descriptive
Boys received $3.18 per week in allowance on average.
Girls received $2.63 per week in allowance on average.
Boys receive more allowance than girls.