Past exam of the statistics course of the University of Oxford / 2021 / 2 / b / iii / Solution

Condition on the total of 400 complaints. Assume each complaint independently has the same probability $p$ of being received on Monday; in particular, repeated complaints from one incident must not create material dependence. The Monday count $S$ then has a binomial distribution with parameters $(400,p)$. Test $H_0:p=0.2$ against $H_1:p>0.2$, rejecting for large $S$ as suggested by the monotone likelihood ratio.

Under the null hypothesis, ${\mathbb{E}}_{0}S=80$ and ${\mathrm{Var}}_0(S)=400(0.2)(0.8)=64$. Both expected successes and expected failures are large, so the central limit theorem gives a suitable normal approximation:Using the paper's supplied rounded table, the upper-tail p-value is approximatelyA more accurate evaluation of the standard normal distribution cumulative distribution function gives about 0.0062. For example, choose significance level 0.05 before examining the data; the supplied upper 5% standard normal quantile is approximately 1.6, and $2.5>1.6$. Reject $H_0$ at 5%, and also at 1%, using this approximation. The observed binomial proportion is $100/400=0.25$, providing evidence that the Monday probability exceeds 0.2 under the sampling assumptions.

If applying a continuity correction, approximate ${\mathbb{P}}_0(S\ge 100)$ by $1-\Phi ((99.5-80)/8)=1-\Phi (2.4375)\approx 0.0074$; this gives the same 5% and 1% conclusions. The uncorrected value 0.005 is approximate, so a decision exactly at the 0.5% boundary is not warranted by the supplied rounded table.