In this exercise we will simulate drawing many random samples to help
understand from whence the "confidence" in confidence interval comes. A
recent L.A. Times poll indicated that 51% of Americans think it is acceptable
for the government to monitor internet communications to hunt for terrorists.
Assume for the purposes of this exercise that the value 51% is indeed true.
We would like to see what would happen if we tried to estimate this value
based on a random sample of size n = 2000.
1. Using Excel or another software, generate the percent of those in
a sample of size 2000 who think it is acceptable for the government to
monitor internet communications 100 times (i.e., generate 100 sample proportions).
2. Create a relative frequency table for the 100 results.
3. Using the frequency table, find the smallest margin of error (ME)
so that the interval
Hint: In Excel, use Tools>Data Analysis>Random number generation. Use a binomial distribution with p = 0.51 and n = 2000. To create a relative frequency table, use the Tools>Data Analysis>Histogram. Specify the range of values (note, you will have to convert number of responses to percent), and the "bin". The bin lists the possible values for the responses. A bin column containing the values .460, .461, .462, . . ., .560 should be sufficient.