Hypothesis Test (CT3 Quiz)

Note: You have 3 attempts on this quiz. The correct answers will not show until after your last attempt.

Read the following carefully and use the claim from MicroSort to preform a hypothesis test:

Gender-selection methods are somewhat controversial. Some people believe that use of such methods should be prohibited, regardless of the reason. Others believe that limited use should be allowed for medical reasons, such as to prevent gender-specific hereditary disorders. For example, some couples carry X-linked recessive genes, so that a male child has a 50% chance of inheriting a serious disorder and a female child has no chance of inheriting the disorder. These couples may want to use a gender-selection method to increase the likelihood of having a baby girl so that none of their children inherit the disorder. Methods of gender selection have been around for many years. In the 1980s, ProCare Industries sold a product called Gender Choice. The product cost only $49.95, but the Food and Drug Administration told the company to stop distributing Gender Choice because there was no evidence to support the claim that it was 80% reliable.

The Genetics & IVF Institute developed a newer gender-selection method called MicroSort. The Microsort XSORT method is designed to increase the likelihood of a baby girl, and the YSORT method is designed to increase the likelihood of a boy. Here is a statement from the MicroSort Web site: "The Genetics & IVF Institute is offering couples the ability to increase the chance of having a child of the desired gender to reduce the probability of X-linked diseases or for family balancing." Stated simply, for a cost exceeding $3000, the Genetics & IVF Institute claims that it can increase the probability of having a baby of the gender that a couple prefers. As of this writing, the MicroSort method is undergoing clinical trials, but these results are available:

Among 726 couples who used the XSORT method in trying to have a baby girl, 668 couples did have baby girls, for a success rate of 92.0%. Under normal circumstances with no special treatment, girls occur in 50% of births. (Actually, the current birth rate of girls is 48.79%, but we will use 50% to keep things simple.) These results provide us with an interesting question:

Use the methods you have learned in this section to test the claim that the MicroSort method of gender selection increases the likelihood that a baby will be a girl.

Use your results to answer the following quiz questions.