Writing with Statistics: Verifying Data about The Most

Popular Social Media

Arienka Prilitaningtyas
1406577556

Faculty Of Economics
University Of Indonesia
2014

A Website on the internet wrote an article about the most popular social media in 2014.
The article said that the most popular social media in 2014 is Path. The article also said
that the mean of time that Paths users open Path has risen above the 2013 mean of 3
hours a day (If we sum each time the user open Path). The article also stated that the
proportion of time that Paths users use to open Path in 2014 more than 3 hours has
risen above 2013 level of 25% . Both of the articles statement ar based on 40 random
paths users as shown in the table below.
1

Mr Andi Siswanto is a social media analyst who is interested in verifying whether the
statement that stated in the article is valid or not.
Mr. Andi wants to use the sampe information to:
1. Determine if the mean of time that Paths users open Path has risen above the
2013 mean of 3 hours a day.
2. Determine if the proportion of time that Paths users use to open Path in 2014
more than 3 hours has risen above 2013 level of 25% .
A sample of 40 random Paths users resulted in a mean of time that Paths users open
Path of 3.075 hours with a standard deviation of 1.7005 hours. The sample mean is
above the 2013 mean of 3 hours a day. In addition, thirteen Paths users use path more
than 3 hours a day, or 32,5%; the corresponding percentage was 25%.Based on these
results , the articles writer conclude that Paths becomes more popular in 2014.
However, it is essentials to provide statistically significant evidence to substantiate
these claims. Toward this end, formal tests of hypotheses regarding the population mean

and population proportion are conducted. The results of the test are sums up in the table
below.
Hypotheses

Test Statistic Value

p- Value

H0: 3

t=

0,39

HA:> 3
H0:p 0,25
HA:p > 0,25

Z=

= 0,84 (rounded)

0,2005

When testing whether the the mean of time that Paths users open Path has risen
above the 2013 mean of 3 hours a day, a testing statistic value of 0,28 is obtained.
Given p-value of 0,17005, the null hypotheses regarding the population mean cannot be
rejected at any reasonable level of significance. Similarly, given a p-value of 0,2005, the
null hypotheses regarding the population mean cannot be rejected. Therefore, sample
evidence does not support the claim that the mean of time that Paths users open Path
has risen above the 2013 mean of 3 hours a day or Determine if proportion of time that
Paths users use to open Path in 2014 more than 3 hours has risen above 2013 level of
25% . Maybe, the article were only based on a cursory look at the sample statistics
calculation and not on a thorough statiscal analysis.