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Chapter 1: Q38BB (page 1)

Falsifying Data A researcher at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Research Center was once criticized for falsifying data. Among his data were figures obtained from 6 groups of mice, with 20 individual mice in each group. The following values were given for the percentage of successes in each group: 53%, 58%, 63%, 46%, 48%, 67%. What’s wrong with those values?

Short Answer

Expert verified

The percentages were expected to be multiples of 5.

Step by step solution

01

Given information

The data contains observations from six groups of 20 mice each. Percentages for success in the group are 53%, 58%, 63%, 46%, 48%, and 67%.

02

Finding the expected counts of success

The actual count of success in each group of 20 mice can be computed using percentages.

\(\begin{aligned}{l}53\% \times 20 = 10.6\\58\% \times 20 = 11.6\\63\% \times 20 = 12.6\end{aligned}\)

\(\begin{aligned}{l}46\% \times 20 = 9.2\\48\% \times 20 = 9.6\\67\% \times 20 = 13.4\end{aligned}\)

All the counts are in the form of decimals.

03

Identifying the flaw of decimal counts

As the count of mice for success is always a whole number, the decimal values are incorrect.

The correct percentage values would be multiples of 5 as one mouse in a group is equivalent to 5%\(\left( {\frac{1}{{20}} \times 100} \right) = 5\% \).

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