Economics 227 Spring 2010
Descriptive Statistics and the Titanic
Final Analysis and Powerpoint Presentation Due Thursday Feb 18, 2010
(Powerpoint presentations will be available from class web page)
Group Project (same groups as CPI assignment)

  You will use statistical arguments (primarily descriptive) to answer the following questions about events that took place during sinking of the Titanic: 

1) Were women and children saved first?

2) Were the first class passengers saved unfairly? 

Use statistical analysis of the data available to support your answer. This means you should include a descriptive analysis of your argument including all the information you have acquired and how it supports your answers to the two questions presented. Write up your results in MS Word. You may wish to use Excel to display graphical information.

The statistical case you develop should include both analytical and graphical interpretation of the data. A short PowerPoint presentation of your results is required.  The PowerPoint presentation will be placed on the class web site.

(Remember - this is a research project. Present a thesis, an explanation, supporting data and graphs, a conclusion, and a bibliography.)

The Titanic was the most technologically advanced liner in the world for the year 1912. At 11:40 P.M. on Sunday, April 14 of that year, the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in less than three hours. A sequence of mistakes and tragic coincidences resulted in disaster: only 705 of her 2,224 passengers and crew were saved.

Some believe that the rescue procedures used that night unfairly favored the wealthier passengers. In this project, you will use statistical thinking to explore the data behind the disaster to arrive at your own (statistically informed) conclusion.

Explore the following links to find out more about the details surrounding the Titanic disaster.

• A site called 'Smoking Gun' (see the References section for more information) contains this letter in which the dock union criticizes evacuation procedures. This is a first-hand reaction to the controversy surrounding the evacuation. Given this information, it seems an interesting question to explore. In the next section you can find out more about the data and come to your own conclusion.
  
• You can also link to the parent site to find more historical information on the Titanic.
  
• Here you will find the Chronology of the voyage and an animation of the disaster.  You can find out more by visiting the Smithsonian Institute which contains many links to information on the Titanic as well as the SeaWiFs site.
  
• The National Geographic Society developed a site where you can explore the Titanic, and see what recent expeditions have discovered.
  
• People have been interested in the Titanic for many years. Recently much more has been learned--explore the RMS Titanic Inc. site to learn about the expedition to research the Titanic.

In this project, the following site provides a reasoned explanation of the data on the Titanic. Explore this site and consider the reasoning used there. The first section discusses the question of whether there were differences in survival figures depending on class, age, and sex. At the end of the article you will find tables showing the actual number and percentages of those lost and saved.

So, what do you think? Were women and children really saved first? Were the first class passengers saved unfairly?  Use statistical analysis and graphical interpretation of the data available to support your answer.

You will see that different ways of presenting the numbers can lead you to different conclusions. The art of statistics gives you the power to find the correct way of looking at the numbers. Turn in (digitally - Cleo drop box) both your write up and your PowerPoint presentation.

• Titanic Survival Statistics

The links below are listed in the order in which they appear in this project.  These are only a sample of the data available to you on the web.

• Background
  • Smoking Gun
          the letter in which a union criticizes evacuation procedures
    
  • Smithsonian Institute
    
  • The SeaWiFs site
    
  • National Geographic Society
          exploring the Titanic
    
  • RMS Titanic Inc.
          the expedition to research the Titanic
    
• Data
  • Titanic Survival Statistics

• Analysis

  • Centre for Applied Statistics Homepage
          
  • Niles Online
          Statistics Every Writer Should Know