8. Testing for Differences in Means and Proportions: Independent Proportions Z-test
Confidence Interval for the Difference Between Two Independent Proportions
Confidence Interval for the Difference Between Two Independent Proportions
Assuming the sampling distribution of the difference between two sample proportions is (approximately) normal, the general formula for computing a for the difference between the two population proportions is:
Where is the critical value of the Standard Normal Distribution such that .
Calculating z* with Statistical Software
Let be the confidence level in .
To calculate the critical value in Excel, make use of the function NORM.INV():
To calculate the critical value in R, make use of the function qnorm():
Construct a confidence interval for the difference between the two population proportions . Round your answers to decimal places.
There are a number of different ways we can compute the confidence interval. Click on one of the panels to toggle a specific solution.
Since both and are considered large (), the Central Limit Theorem applies and we know that sampling distribution of the difference between two sample proportions is (approximately) normal.
If the sampling distribution of the difference between two sample proportions is (approximately) normal, the general formula for computing a for the difference between the two population proportions is:
Compute the sample proportions and :
For a given confidence level (in ), the critical value of the standard normal distribution is the value such that .
To calculate this critical value in Excel, make use of the following function:
NORM.INV(probability, mean, standard_dev)
- probability: A probability corresponding to the normal distribution.
- mean: The mean of the distribution.
- standard_dev: The standard deviation of the distribution.
Here, we have . Thus, to calculate such that , run the following command:
This gives:
Calculate the lower bound of the confidence interval:
Calculate the upper bound of the confidence interval:
Thus, the confidence interval for the difference between the two population proportions is:
Since both and are considered large (), the Central Limit Theorem applies and we know that sampling distribution of the difference between two sample proportions is (approximately) normal.
If the sampling distribution of the difference between two sample proportions is (approximately) normal, the general formula for computing a for the difference between the two population proportions is:
Compute the sample proportions and :
For a given confidence level (in ), the critical value of the standard normal distribution is the value such that .
To calculate this critical value in R, make use of the following function:
qnorm(p, mean, sd, lower.tail)
- p: A probability corresponding to the normal distribution.
- mean: The mean of the distribution.
- sd: The standard deviation of the distribution.
- lower.tail: If TRUE (default), probabilities are , otherwise, .
Here, we have . Thus, to calculate such that , run the following command:
This gives:
Calculate the lower bound of the confidence interval:
Calculate the upper bound of the confidence interval:
Thus, the confidence interval for the difference between the two population proportions is: