I need help with what data tool or test to use in excel for this problem.
The county commissioner needs to cut the budget and wants to know if there is any significant feeling among the constituents regarding where the cuts should be made. Two hundred calls are made with the following results. Using the 5% level of significance, is there a significant feeling among the constituents as to which category should be cut?
POLICE 15 FIRE 25 ROAD 57 SERVICES 37 ACROSS THE BOARD 66
To determine if there is a significant feeling among constituents regarding where the cuts should be made, you can use a chi-square test in Excel. Here's how you can do it:
Step 1: Prepare the Data
- Create two columns in an Excel worksheet: one for the categories and another for the frequency of calls.
- Enter the categories in one column (POLICE, FIRE, ROAD, SERVICES, ACROSS THE BOARD) and the corresponding frequencies in the other column (15, 25, 57, 37, 66).
Step 2: Calculate the Expected Frequencies
- Add a third column to calculate the expected frequencies. The expected frequency for each category is calculated as (total calls * category proportion).
- Calculate the total number of calls by summing up the frequencies in the second column (15+25+57+37+66 = 200).
- Calculate the category proportions by dividing each frequency by the total number of calls (for example, 15/200 = 0.075 for POLICE).
- Multiply each category proportion by 200 (the total number of calls) to get the expected frequencies.
Step 3: Perform the Chi-Square Test
- In a new cell, use the CHISQ.TEST function to perform the chi-square test. The formula syntax is CHISQ.TEST(actual_range, expected_range).
- Select the actual frequencies (second column) and the expected frequencies (third column) and use the CHISQ.TEST function.
- The function will return a p-value, which indicates the significance level.
Step 4: Interpret the Results
- Compare the p-value to the predetermined level of significance (5% in this case).
- If the p-value is less than 0.05, there is a significant feeling among constituents as to which category should be cut. If the p-value is greater than 0.05, there is no significant feeling.
Following these steps will enable you to use Excel to perform a chi-square test and determine if there is a significant feeling among constituents regarding where the cuts should be made.