Valparaiso University professors D. L. Schroeder and K. E. Reichardt conducted a salary survey of members of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA)

and reported the results in Management Accounting

(June 1995). A salary questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of 4,800 IMA members; 2,287 were returned and form the database for the study. The researchers compared average salaries by management level, education, and gcnder. Some of the results for entry level managers are shown in the table on p. 360.

a. Suppose you want to make an inference about the difference between salaries of male and female entry-level managers who earned a CPA degree, at a 95% level of confidence. Why is this impossible to do using the information in the table?

Make the inference, part

a, assuming the salary standard deviation for male and female entry-level managers with CPAs are $4,000 and $3,000, respectively.

Repeat part

b, but assume the male and female salary standard deviations are $16,000 and $12,000, respectively.

Compare the two inferences, parts b and c.

Suppose you want to compare the mean salaries of male entry-level managers with a CPA to the mean salary of male entry-level managers w~thout a CPA degree. Give sample standard deviatmn values that will yield a significant difference between the two means, at a = .05.

In your opinion, are the sample standard deviations, part

e, reasonable values for the salary data? Explain.

As a country's standard of living increases, so does its production of solid waste. The attendant environmental threat makes solid-waste management an important national problem in many countries of the world. The International Journal of Environmental Health Research

(Vol. 4, 1994) reported on the solid-waste generation rates (in kilograms per capita per day) for samples of cities from industrialized and middle-income countries.

The data are provided in the next table.

a. Based on only a visual inspection of the data, does it appear that the mean waste generation rates of cities in industrialized and middle-income countries differ?

b. Conduct a test of hypothesis (at a = .05) to support your observation in part

a. Use the EXCEL printout below to make your conclusion.