Question 9.51

9.51 Titanic!

In 1912, the luxury liner Titanic, on its first voyage, struck an iceberg and sank. Some passengers got off the ship in lifeboats, but many died. Think of the Titanic disaster as an experiment in how the people of that time behaved when faced with death in a situation where only some can escape. The passengers are a sample from the population of their peers. Here is information about who lived and who died, by gender and economic status.21 (The data leave out a few passengers whose economic status is unknown.)

titanic

Men
Status Died Survived
Highest 111 61
Middle 150 22
Lowest 419 85
Total 680 168
Women
Status Died Survived
Highest 6 126
Middle 13 90
Lowest 107 101
Total 126 317
  1. Compare the percents of men and of women who died. Is there strong evidence that a higher proportion of men die in such situations? Why do you think this happened?
  2. Look only at the women. Describe how the three economic classes differ in the percent of women who died. Are these differences statistically significant?
  3. Now look only at the men and answer the same questions.

9.51

(a) 80.19% of men and 28.44% of women died. . The data provide evidence that a higher proportion of men died than women. Answers will vary for reasons.
(b) Among the women, 4.55% of Highest, 12.62% of Middle, and 51.44% of Lowest died. . The data provide evidence of an association between death and economic status for the women.
(c) Among the men, 64.53% of Highest, 87.21% of Middle, and 83.13% of Lowest died. . The data provide evidence of an association between death and economic status for the men.