A new study indicates that elderly people are able to postpone death for a short time to reach an important occasion. The researchers studied deaths from natural causes among 1200 elderly people of Chinese descent in California during six months before and after the Harbor Moon Festival. Thirty-three deaths occurred in the week before the Chinese festival, compared with an estimated 50.82 deaths expected in that period. In the week following the festival, 70 deaths occurred, compared with an estimated 52. ‘‘The numbers are so significant that it would be unlikely to occur by chance,” said one of the researchers.
(a) Given the information in the problem, is the χ² statistic likely to be relatively large or relatively small?
(b) Is the p-value likely to be relatively large or relatively small?
(c) In the week before the festival, which is higher: the observed count or the expected count? What does this tell us about the ability of elderly people to delay death?
(d) What is the contribution to the χ²-statistic for the week before the festival?

(e) In the week after the festival, which is higher: the observed count or the expected count? What does this tell us about the ability of elderly people to delay death?
(f) What is the contribution to the χ²-statistic for the week after the festival?
(g) The researchers tell us that in a control group of elderly people in California who are not of
Chinese descent, the same effect was not seen. Why did the researchers also include a control group?