Chapter 17, Problem 5P

Research has demonstrated that people tend to be attracted to others who are similar to themselves. One study demonstrated that individuals are

disproportionately more likely to marry those with surname. That begin with the same last letter as their own (Jones, Pelham, Carvallo, & Mirenberg, 2004). The researchers began by looking at marriage records and record1ng the surname for each groom and the maiden name of each bride. From these records it

is possible to calculate the probability of randomly matching a bride and a groom whose last names begin with the same letter. Suppose that this probability is

only 6.5%. Next, a sample of n = 200 married couples

is elected and the number who shared the same last initial at the time they were married is counted. The resulting observed frequencies are as follow:

Same Initial

Different Initials

 181 200

Do these date indicate that the number of couples with the same last initial is significantly different that would be expected if couples were matched randomly? Test with a = .05.