J. T.
MATH 240
The purpose was to discover:
 What factors affect the major an individual chooses:
 Gender
 Hometown
 Involvement in sports
 Whether or not they are planning to attend graduate school
Hypotheses:
 An individual's involvement in sports and their major are related (dependent)
 An individual’s gender and their major are not related (independent)
 Rural students would choose different majors than urban students (dependent)
 An individual’s major and whether they are planning to attend graduate school are related
(dependent)
 Data Collection:
 Asked demographic questions
 Gender
 Year in school
 Hometown and rural or city area
 Asked about courses of study and plans for the future
 Major
 If they had a minor, and if they did what it was
 Whether they plan to attend graduate school
 Other
 Their involvement in sports
 Whether they took time off before attending school
 Why they chose their major
 Used a convenience sampling method
 Handed surveys out to students in residence halls, the wellness center, in classes, and




elsewhere
Did not choose specific students (asked everybody) in order to ensure that I had a fairly
good representation of students at MSU
The sample consisted of 155 MSU students
The sample was not representative of the population
All responses were voluntary and remained anonymous
 Inserted the data into Minitab
 All data (other than the year in school) was categorical
 Used cross-tabulation tables with counts and percentages to compare data
 49 females and 106 males
 61 freshman, 46 sophomores, 32 juniors, 14 seniors, and 2 0ther
 38 from North Dakota, 22 from neighboring states, 15 from the east, 6 from the
Midwest, 11 from the south, 34 from the west, 21 from Canada, and 15 international
(countries that are not the U.S. or Canada)
 91 individuals from rural locations and 64 from urban locations
 5 Arts Majors, 53 Business Majors, 8 Communication Disorders Majors, 21
Education Majors, 18 Health Science Majors, 16 Science Majors, 27 Social Science
Majors, and 7 Undecided
 Used a Chi-Square Test of Independence
 Null: Involvement in sports and major are independent
 Alternative: Involvement in sports and major are dependent
 α = 0.05
 P = 0.022 < α
 Rejected null, accepted alternative
 Involvement in sports and major are dependent
 Hypothesis regarding sports was correct
 Used a Chi-Square Test of Independence
 Null: Gender and major are independent
 Alternative: Gender and major are dependent
 α = 0.05
 P < 0.01 < α
 Reject null, accept alternative
 Gender and major are dependent
 Hypothesis regarding gender was incorrect
 Used a Chi-Square Test of Independence
 Null: Hometown location and major are independent
 Alternative: Hometown location and major are dependent
 α = 0.05
 P = 0.607 > α
 Fail-to-reject null
 Hometown location and major are independent
 Hypothesis regarding hometown location was wrong.
 Used a Chi-Square Test of Independence
 Null: Plan to attend graduate school and major are independent
 Alternative: Plan to attend graduate school and major are dependent
 α = 0.05
 P < 0.01 < α
 Reject null, accept alternative
 Plan to attend graduate school and major are dependent
 Hypothesis regarding plan to attend graduate school was correct
 Factors that affect the major an individual chooses:
 Gender
 Plan to attend graduate school
 Involvement in sports
 Factors that do not affect the major an individual chooses:
 Hometown location (city or rural)
 Several limitations:
 Sample – convenience sample
 Sample size
 Survey – open-ended questions
 Suggestions for next time:
 Have no open-ended questions
 An online survey
 Consider other factors:
 Occupation of parents
 Age in college
 Financial situation of the student
 Religion
 Enrollment services
 Graduate school
 Recruiters