question archive Overview Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, and in recent decades has been responsible for much of the heating of the Earth's atmosphere
Overview Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, and in recent decades has been responsible for much of the heating of the Earth's atmosphere
Subject:StatisticsPrice: Bought3
Overview
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, and in recent decades has been responsible for much of the heating of the Earth's atmosphere. However, unlike carbon dioxide (which stays in the atmosphere for centuries), methane has a much shorter span, lasting only about 10 years before it breaks down. Thus reducing methane emissions is thought to be an effective strategy in the global fight to curb climate change, because it will translate into temperature change relatively quickly.
While methane has several natural sources, human activity from coal mining, gas drilling and raising sheep and cattle is a major contributor globally. The current Australian government is considering signing a pledge to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030 (compared to 2020 levels). For the last two years, there have been record rises in methane levels in the atmosphere; however, there is ongoing work to determine the causes of this.
Measuring and estimating methane output from different activities is highly technical, and scientists across the globe are exploring ways of simplifying these estimates without loss of accuracy. A group of researchers have carried out an investigation to compare the loss of accuracy in estimating total methane emissions for subsistence level farms in sub-Saharan Africa using the best known methods ("gold standard") as well as a method which is much easier to implement and more cost effective ("simple method").
The study and the data
A hypothetical study was conducted in Africa by a group of researchers to compare the estimated total methane emissions of cattle using 100 animals. For each animal, methane emissions were estimated using either the gold standard method or the simple method. You have been provided with a dataset that contains the following columns:
- ID: subject ID
- Sex
- Method: Estimation method (gold standard or simple method)
- Methane: Estimated daily methane production
QUESTION
Explore and analyse the data using R
1. Your task is to determine if the simple method is as effective (or worse) at measuring daily methane production as the gold standard method. Based on your understanding of this data, describe:
(a) The response variable, including what type of variable it is (i.e., nominal, ordinal, continuous or discrete; include a justification for your answer)
(b) The explanatory variable, including what type of variable it is (i.e., nominal, ordinal, continuous or discrete; include a justification for your answer)
(c) The research question, stated in terms of the response and explanatory variables (your research question should include the word 'difference')
(d) The Null and Alternative hypotheses.
(e) Describe any other variables that are present in the data and the type of variables they are.
Data file
| ID | Methane | Sex | Method |
| 10539 | 147.3336421 | F | Gold standard |
| 10441 | 69.90506403 | F | Gold standard |
| 10300 | 174.5178201 | F | Gold standard |
| 852 | 131.2138398 | M | Gold standard |
| 914 | 65.75540925 | F | Gold standard |
| 10034 | 120.0451136 | F | Gold standard |
| 1425 | 55.80212408 | F | Gold standard |
| 397 | 39.44316099 | M | Gold standard |
| 10737 | 182.3592885 | F | Gold standard |
| 10484 | 71.58503103 | F | Gold standard |
| 109 | 94.13166839 | F | Gold standard |
| 260 | 71.64354657 | F | Gold standard |
| 10043 | 73.70779857 | F | Gold standard |
| 10673 | 124.5805251 | F | Gold standard |
| 10027 | 159.375211 | F | Gold standard |
| 10049 | 113.0254278 | F | Gold standard |
| 10934 | 143.4704792 | F | Gold standard |
| 456 | 55.06321217 | M | Gold standard |
| 10279 | 58.3920156 | F | Gold standard |
| 1034 | 110.3599411 | F | Gold standard |
| 10538 | 179.567955 | F | Gold standard |
| 10577 | 241.9215687 | F | Gold standard |
| 10946 | 163.9181949 | F | Gold standard |
| 10865 | 89.69800971 | F | Gold standard |
| 10265 | 126.7738666 | F | Gold standard |
| 10614 | 266.345013 | F | Gold standard |
| 10823 | 142.4773278 | F | Gold standard |
| 10046 | 161.3100474 | F | Gold standard |
| 10716 | 129.0970018 | F | Gold standard |
| 10267 | 126.1108216 | F | Gold standard |
| 10185 | 103.8220215 | F | Gold standard |
| 10471 | 112.4174466 | F | Gold standard |
| 804 | 129.7464911 | M | Gold standard |
| 10066 | 247.468737 | F | Gold standard |
| 795 | 130.72278 | M | Gold standard |
| 798 | 54.59537108 | M | Gold standard |
| 10705 | 182.3713081 | F | Gold standard |
| 951 | 77.225482 | F | Gold standard |
| 10936 | 133.5667427 | F | Gold standard |
| 282 | 54.57164769 | F | Gold standard |
| 10791 | 185.7254385 | F | Gold standard |
| 455 | 101.3911006 | M | Gold standard |
| 813 | 104.1960227 | M | Gold standard |
| 10814 | 144.5561952 | F | Gold standard |
| 10497 | 162.271638 | F | Gold standard |
| 693 | 93.46602381 | M | Gold standard |
| 10369 | 155.9276886 | F | Gold standard |
| 10741 | 77.46324431 | F | Gold standard |
| 10227 | 103.2492569 | F | Gold standard |
| 10902 | 167.5738593 | F | Gold standard |
| 2110 | 46.17525315 | F | Simple method |
| 12847 | 88.48495759 | F | Simple method |
| 12166 | 143.9248705 | F | Simple method |
| 12099 | 84.91636066 | F | Simple method |
| 12769 | 120.6901556 | F | Simple method |
| 3102 | 83.57693259 | M | Simple method |
| 12011 | 137.584446 | F | Simple method |
| 2863 | 98.86698758 | F | Simple method |
| 2052 | 54.5935724 | F | Simple method |
| 2060 | 50.83260842 | F | Simple method |
| 3117 | 65.14511563 | M | Simple method |
| 2276 | 80.58522933 | F | Simple method |
| 2492 | 34.44180402 | M | Simple method |
| 12234 | 86.75019997 | F | Simple method |
| 3186 | 42.7840179 | F | Simple method |
| 3097 | 77.81982364 | M | Simple method |
| 12771 | 121.8276896 | F | Simple method |
| 12137 | 179.0236463 | F | Simple method |
| 12628 | 150.6685666 | F | Simple method |
| 12179 | 91.02518781 | F | Simple method |
| 2079 | 85.35015412 | F | Simple method |
| 2415 | 57.38157771 | M | Simple method |
| 12271 | 137.9716464 | F | Simple method |
| 12949 | 174.2131969 | F | Simple method |
| 12218 | 105.0355043 | F | Simple method |
| 12266 | 158.1443676 | F | Simple method |
| 12447 | 79.3281386 | F | Simple method |
| 12085 | 128.9058199 | F | Simple method |
| 12231 | 110.9338094 | F | Simple method |
| 12564 | 200.1424542 | F | Simple method |
| 2142 | 80.17582282 | F | Simple method |
| 2238 | 85.51974598 | F | Simple method |
| 12297 | 115.3277479 | F | Simple method |
| 12784 | 126.7600908 | F | Simple method |
| 12180 | 152.1584268 | F | Simple method |
| 12358 | 68.35288133 | F | Simple method |
| 2546 | 80.0625612 | M | Simple method |
| 2918 | 123.9812724 | F | Simple method |
| 12509 | 232.9787244 | F | Simple method |
| 12675 | 94.18591356 | F | Simple method |
| 2895 | 56.52389933 | F | Simple method |
| 2894 | 72.95614865 | F | Simple method |
| 12734 | 119.9579609 | F | Simple method |
| 2236 | 60.00874587 | F | Simple method |
| 2219 | 27.89466269 | F | Simple method |
| 2796 | 119.6780266 | M | Simple method |
| 2257 | 78.68610773 | F | Simple method |
| 12314 | 117.3900151 | F | Simple method |
| 2788 | 31.72637873 | M | Simple method |
| 12063 | 192.2567834 | F | Simple method |
