statistic word problem

Question

on the first semester there was 199 referrals and of those referrals there were 31 students with 3 or more referrals

on the second semester year was 116 referrals and of those referrals there was 23 students with 3 or more referrals

 

did we reduce the number/percentage of students with 3 or more referral by 5 percent

Answer 1

First determine the percentage on the first semester.  To do so divide

31/199 = .1557 = 15.57%

 

Repeat for the second semester

23/116 = .1983 = 19.83%

 

So not only did it not drop by 5%, it increased by 5%!

 

Now with that in mind, you are only looking at students that have had referrals.  There is likely and hopefully a larger population of students that have had no referrals and perhaps that should be considered instead of the number of students that have had at least one.