Project Title: Analysing data from 32 scottish council areas

Question 1a Examining the school attainment of Males and Females in Scotland

For this data set, school attainment of males and females across the Scottish council areas was collected in 2018 by counting the number of all school pupils who attended University in the Autumn after leaving school. The data was collected from the Scottish Government website (2018).

According to the reports made in England by the Office for Students (OfS), more females progressed to higher education than males, 53.6% and 40.2%, respectively, in the years 2021 and 2022. Similar data was collected for 2022 and 2023; 78.0% of females achieved a first or upper-second-class degree, while for males, it was 76.3% (Lewis,2024). Therefore, it was hypothesized that females in this sample would have higher school attainment than males.

A t-test was carried out for this project to demonstrate whether there was a significant difference in the school attainment of males and females in Scotland. The data was analysed using a one-tailed hypothesis test at a 5% significance level to test whether the higher education of males and females differ based on Scottish council areas.

The Null Hypothesis assumed that the mean female higher education across the council areas would be lower or equal compared to of males, while the Alternative Hypothesis assumed that the female higher education would be higher than the male, resulting in a statistically significant difference.

The t-test found a p-value > 0.10 = 0.1091 = 0.11. Hence, at 5% significance level, the null hypothesis is accepted as there is no statistically significant difference between males and females higher education.

The mean in females school attainment is 327.06, while for males is 266.66. The t-value is 1.24444, suggesting that the difference between the means is not very large. The lower bound of the confidence interval is negative and the upper bound is infinite, indicating that the mean difference could be positive or negative.

Even though the OfS data showed that more English females proceed to higher education than males, the percentage difference is not that large. There was no significant difference between the pupils from the Scottish Council, and not enough evidence against the null hypothesis; that could be due to sample size or other factors. The box plot of the data is shown in (Figure 1) below.

Figure 1. Boxplot displaying how many females and males have higher education

Question 1b Comparing the weekly salaries of males and females in Scotland

For this data set, the weekly salaries for males and females across the Scottish council areas were averaged in 2018. The data was collected from the Scottish Government website (2018).

The ONS data figures made in 2018 show that women are paid less per hour than men in a full-time job, 58% and 85%, respectively, and that women are paid 8.6% less than men in the UK (Athow, 2019). Therefore, it was hypothesized that females in this sample would have a lower weekly income than males.

A t-test was carried out to demonstrate whether there was a significant difference in the weekly salaries of males and females in Scotland. The data was analysed using a one-tailed hypothesis test at a 5% significance level to test whether the weekly salaries of males and females were different based on Scottish council areas.

The Null Hypothesis assumed that the mean weekly salary of females across the council areas would be greater than or equal to the mean of males. In contrast, the Alternative Hypothesis assumed that the weekly salary of females would be lower than that of males, resulting in a statistically significant difference.

The t-test found a p-value = 1. Hence, at 5% significance level, the null hypothesis is accepted as there is no statistically difference between males and females weekly salaries.

The mean in females weekly salary is 438.15, while for males is 517.46. The t-value is -6.2642, suggesting that on average females have a lower weekly income compared to males. The lower bound of the confidence interval is negative and the upper bound is infinite, implying that the mean salary for females could be lower.

This analysis indicates a significant gender income gap in favour of males, as, on average, they earn £79.31 more per week than females, a difference demonstrated in the ONS report previously. There was insufficient evidence to suggest that females earn less than males.The box plot of the data is shown in (Figure 2) below.

Figure 2. Boxplot displaying the weekly salary of males and females in pounds

Question 4a Examining the relationship between Smokers and Lung Cancer Cases in Scotland

The Scottish Government (2018) collected the percentage of smokers and the number of lung cancer cases, including cancer of the trachea and bronchus registrations, across the Scottish council areas.

The data was analysed using a correlation coefficient to find the relationship between smokers and the number of lung cancer cases in Scotland. This relationship is displayed in the scatter plot (Figure 3) below.

The correlation analysis finds a coefficient of r = 0.17, which signifies a weak positive correlation. This means that as the percentage of smokers increases, the number of lung cancer cases tends to increase slightly, though this relationship is not strong.

According to a study conducted by Tindle et al. (2018), 58.7% of lung cancer cases were seen among former and current smokers. Moreover, 72% of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking (Cancer Research UK, year). This suggests that smoking is a major risk factor for lung cancer. However, the data showed a weak correlation, which could mean that the data set was narrow, or it could have been influenced by other factors.

Figure 3. Relationship between Smokers and cases of Lung Cancer

Reference list

Athow, J. (2019) Decoding the gender pay gap: how a Bletchley Park codebreaker helped explain a strange paradox. Available at: https://blog.ons.gov.uk/2019/04/16/decoding-the-gender-pay-gap-how-a-bletchley-park-codebreaker-helped-explain-a-strange-paradox/ (Accessed: 17th August 2024).

Cancer Research UK (Year) Lung cancer statistics. Available at: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/lung-cancer#heading-Three (Accessed: 17th August 2024).

Lewis, J. (2024) Equality of access and outcomes in higher education in England. Available at: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9195/CBP-9195.pdf (Accessed: 17th August 2024).

Tindle, H.A., Stevenson Duncan, M., Greevy, R.A., Vasan, R.S., Kundu, S., Massion, P.P. and Freiberg, M.S., (2018) Lifetime smoking history and risk of lung cancer: results from the Framingham Heart Study. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 110(11), pp.1201-1207.