UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY – AFRICA

MASTER OF SCIENCE
MANAGEMENT & ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (MOD)

MOD 6225: ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH STATISTICS

ASSIGNMENT 4

BRIAN LUBANGA ONG’ALE

668089
1. Use the appropriate descriptive statistics to summarize the transmission for failure

i. Summary by measures of central tendency

Sum, ∑𝒙 = 3,667,015 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠

N = 50

𝑓𝑥 3,667,015
̅
Mean, 𝒙 =∑ = = 73,340.3
𝑁 50

̃
Median, 𝒙 = 72,705

Mode = None

ii. Summary by measures of location

Maximum = 138,114 miles

Minimum = 25,066 miles

Range = Max – Min = 138,114 – 25,066

= 113,048 miles

iii. Summary by measures of central dispersion (variability)

(𝒙𝒊 −𝑥̅ )𝟐
Variance, 𝝈𝟐 =∑ =619,946,014.05
𝒏−𝟏

Standard dev, 𝝈 = √619,946,014.05 = 𝟐𝟒, 𝟖𝟗𝟖. 𝟕𝟐

2. Develop a 95% confidence interval of the mean number of miles driven until a transmission failure for the population
of automobiles with transmission failures and provide a managerial interpretation of the interval estimate.
Limits (Upper and lower) = Mean ± Margin of error
Where:
Mean, 𝑥̅ = 73,340.3
𝜎
Margin of error = 𝑍𝛼 ( ) =1 - 𝛼 = 1 - 0.95 = 0.05
2 √𝑛

𝑍𝛼 = 𝑍0.025 = 𝟏. 𝟗𝟔; 𝝈 =24,898.72

2

a. Limit = Point estimate ± Critical Value

𝜎
L = 𝑥̅ ± 𝑍𝛼 ( )
2 √𝑛
24,898.72
UCL = 73,340.3 +1.96 ( ) = 80,241.87
√50
24,898.72
LCL = 73,340.3 - 1.96 ( ) = 66,438.54
√50
b. Managerial interpretation
With 95% confidence level the true mean of mileage of travel before transmission failure for the sample
size should be between 66,438 and 80,241 miles.
 Mileage Standard deviation Lower Upper Z Z actual (hypothesis Falls within
N (x) mean () Variance ()) () Limit limit target testing) limits?
1 25,066 73,340.3 47,559,347.8 6,896.33 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -13.71 NO
2 32,464 73,340.3 34,099,426.6 5,839.47 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -11.61 NO
3 32,534 73,340.3 33,982,737.1 5,829.47 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -11.59 NO
4 32,609 73,340.3 33,857,934.7 5,818.76 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -11.57 NO
5 35,662 73,340.3 28,972,536.5 5,382.61 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -10.70 NO
6 37,831 73,340.3 25,732,865.0 5,072.76 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -10.08 NO
7 39,323 73,340.3 23,615,851.0 4,859.61 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -9.66 NO
8 40,001 73,340.3 22,683,855.6 4,762.76 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -9.47 NO
9 53,402 73,340.3 8,112,975.7 2,848.33 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -5.66 NO
10 53,500 73,340.3 8,033,418.5 2,834.33 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -5.63 NO
11 59,465 73,340.3 3,929,060.2 1,982.19 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -3.94 NO
12 59,817 73,340.3 3,732,237.6 1,931.90 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -3.84 NO
13 59,902 73,340.3 3,685,467.5 1,919.76 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -3.82 NO
14 61,978 73,340.3 2,634,731.9 1,623.19 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -3.23 NO
15 63,436 73,340.3 2,001,942.0 1,414.90 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -2.81 NO
16 64,090 73,340.3 1,746,286.7 1,321.47 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -2.63 NO
17 64,342 73,340.3 1,652,436.8 1,285.47 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -2.56 NO
18 64,544 73,340.3 1,579,079.5 1,256.61 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -2.50 NO
19 65,605 73,340.3 1,221,119.7 1,105.04 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -2.20 NO
20 66,998 73,340.3 820,913.7 906.04 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -1.80 YES
21 67,202 73,340.3 768,953.6 876.90 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -1.74 YES
22 67,998 73,340.3 582,452.4 763.19 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -1.52 YES
23 69,568 73,340.3 290,413.2 538.90 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -1.07 YES
24 69,922 73,340.3 238,464.8 488.33 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -0.97 YES
25 72,069 73,340.3 32,983.7 181.61 66,438.7 80,241.9 -1.96 -0.36 YES
26 73,341 73,340.3 0.0 0.10 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 0.00 YES
27 74,276 73,340.3 17,868.1 133.67 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 0.27 YES
28 74,425 73,340.3 24,011.7 154.96 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 0.31 YES
29 77,098 73,340.3 288,169.6 536.81 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 1.07 YES
30 77,437 73,340.3 342,509.2 585.24 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 1.16 YES
31 77,539 73,340.3 359,777.2 599.81 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 1.19 YES
32 79,294 73,340.3 723,398.9 850.53 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 1.69 YES
33 82,256 73,340.3 1,622,238.9 1,273.67 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 2.53 NO
34 85,092 73,340.3 2,818,417.4 1,678.81 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 3.34 NO
35 85,288 73,340.3 2,913,215.0 1,706.81 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 3.39 NO
36 85,586 73,340.3 3,060,350.4 1,749.39 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 3.48 NO
37 85,861 73,340.3 3,199,345.5 1,788.67 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 3.56 NO
38 86,813 73,340.3 3,704,360.1 1,924.67 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 3.83 NO
39 88,798 73,340.3 4,876,336.5 2,208.24 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 4.39 NO
40 89,341 73,340.3 5,224,946.9 2,285.81 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 4.54 NO
41 89,641 73,340.3 5,422,710.6 2,328.67 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 4.63 NO
42 92,857 73,340.3 7,773,501.6 2,788.10 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 5.54 NO
43 94,219 73,340.3 8,896,328.9 2,982.67 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 5.93 NO
44 95,774 73,340.3 10,270,834.6 3,204.81 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 6.37 NO
45 101,769 73,340.3 16,493,693.5 4,061.24 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 8.07 NO
46 116,269 73,340.3 37,609,658.9 6,132.67 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 12.19 NO
47 116,803 73,340.3 38,551,148.8 6,208.96 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 12.34 NO
48 118,444 73,340.3 41,517,219.5 6,443.39 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 12.81 NO
49 121,352 73,340.3 47,043,333.4 6,858.81 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 13.64 NO
50 138,114 73,340.3 85,625,147.2 9,253.39 66,438.7 80,241.9 1.96 18.40 NO
3,667,015 619,946,014.1 24,898.72
3. Discuss the implication of your statistical findings in terms of the belief that some owners of the automobiles
experienced early transmission failures

With this data set, only 13 of the 50 sampled falls within this rate which means that only 26% of all interval
estimates occur within the standard error. This data is therefore unreliable to back some owner’s belief and make
the conclusion that the manufacturer’s vehicles experience early transmission problems.

This would imply that, to get to the root of the problem, we would need to define our sample size statistically,
define the confidence level to work with, the margin of error and the population mean. This would enable us to
carry out a proper hypothesis test

4. How many repair records should be sampled if the research firm wants the population mean number of miles driven
until transmission failure to be estimated with a margin of error of 5000 miles? Use 95% confidence.

𝜎
Margin of error = 𝑍𝛼 ( )
2 √𝑛

24,898.72
5,000 = 1.96 ×
√𝑛
24,898.72×1.96
√𝒏 = 5,000

24,898.72×1.96 2
n=( )
5,000

n = 9.762 = 95.26

n = 96 vehicles

5. What other information would you like to gather to evaluate the transmission failure problem more fully?

a. Population mean: This would enable us to do a proper hypothesis test

b. Causes/origin of failures – This would help analyse more targeted data by differentiating the errors that emerge
from manufacturer configuration and errors by the user.
c. Industry standards – It would be important to know the industry standards for transmission failures i.e., the
baseline mileage of failure
d. Proportionate failure rate – Out of all automobiles by this manufacturer, what is the failure rate. This may give
insight into whether the failure rate is significant, insignificant or just out of special occurrences
e. Transmission failure data from other manufacturers – This would give more information on the overall
performance of the industry and how the company compares, and adjust to remain competitive