Are Female Hurricanes Deadlier than Male Hurricanes?



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Are Female Hurricanes Deadlier than Male Hurricanes?
Mary Richardson

Grand Valley State University



richamar@gvsu.edu
Published: June 2014




Overview of Lesson

This lesson is based upon a data set partially discussed in the article Female Hurricanes are Deadlier than Male Hurricanes written by Kiju Junga, Sharon Shavitta, Madhu Viswanathana, and Joseph M. Hilbed. The data set contains archival data on actual fatalities caused by hurricanes in the United States between 1950 and 2012. Students analyze and explore this hurricane data in order to determine if the data supports the claim that Female named hurricanes are more deadly than Male named hurricanes.


GAISE Components

This investigation follows the four components of statistical problem solving put forth in the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) Report. The four components are: formulate a question, design and implement a plan to collect data, analyze the data by measures and graphs, and interpret the results in the context of the original question. This is a GAISE Level B activity.


Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice

1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

5. Use appropriate tools strategically.

8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.


Common Core State Standards Grade Level Content (High School)

S-ID. 1. Represent data with plots on the real number line (dot plots, histograms, and box plots).

S-ID. 2. Use statistics appropriate to the shape of the data distribution to compare center (median, mean) and spread (interquartile range, standard deviation) of two or more different data sets.

S-ID. 3. Interpret differences in shape, center, and spread in the context of the data sets, accounting for possible effects of extreme data points (outliers).



NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Data Analysis and Probability Standards for Grades 9-12

Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data to answer them:



  • understand the meaning of measurement data and categorical data, of univariate and bivariate data, and of the term variable;

  • understand histograms and parallel box plots and use them to display data.


Select and use appropriate statistical methods to analyze data:

  • for univariate measurement data, be able to display the distribution, describe its shape, and select and calculate summary statistics.


Prerequisites

Students will have knowledge of calculating numerical summaries for one variable (mean, median, five-number summary, checking for outliers). Students will have knowledge of how to construct boxplots.


Learning Targets

Students will be able to calculate numerical summaries and use them to compare and contrast two data sets. Students will be able to use comparative boxplots to compare two data sets. Students will be able to check for outliers in data distributions.


Time Required

1 class period (to complete the lesson)


Materials Required

Pencil and paper; graphing calculator or statistical software package (optional, but would be very beneficial to use), and a copy of the Activity Sheet (at the end of the lesson).


Instructional Lesson Plan
The GAISE Statistical Problem-Solving Procedure
I. Formulate Question(s)

The teacher can begin the lesson by discussing some background information on hurricanes. According to http://www.ready.gov/hurricanes a hurricane is a type of tropical cyclone or severe tropical storm that forms in the southern Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and in the eastern Pacific Ocean.


All Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastal areas are subject to hurricanes. Parts of the Southwest United States and the Pacific Coast also experience heavy rains and floods each year from hurricanes spawned off Mexico. The Atlantic hurricane season lasts from June to November, with the peak season from mid-August to late October. The Eastern Pacific hurricane season begins May 15 and ends November 30.
Hurricanes can cause catastrophic damage to coastlines and several hundred miles inland. Hurricanes can produce winds exceeding 155 miles per hour as well as tornadoes and microbursts. Additionally, hurricanes can create storm surges along the coast and cause extensive damage from heavy rainfull. Floods and flying debris from the excessive winds are often the deadly and destructive results of these weather events.
Junga et al analyzed archival data on actual fatalities caused by hurricanes in the United States between 1950 and 2012 and concluded that severe hurricanes with feminine names were associated with significantly higher death rates than hurricanes with masculine names.
The authors performed laboratory experiments to determine whether hurricane names lead to gender-based expectations about severity and this, in turn, guides respondents’ preparedness to take protective action. They hypothesized that gender-congruent perceptions of intensity and strength are responsible for Male named hurricanes being perceived as riskier and more intense than Female named hurricanes.
U.S. hurricanes used to be given only female names, a practice that meteorologists of a different era considered appropriate due to such characteristics of hurricanes as unpredictability. This practice came to an end in the late 1970s with increasing societal awareness of sexism, and an alternating male-female naming system was adopted.
Even though the gender of hurricanes is now preassigned and arbitrary, the question remains: do people judge hurricane risks in the context of gender-based expectations?

II. Design and Implement a Plan to Collect the Data

Since this lesson does not involve direct data collection the teacher should provide students with the hurricane data set that appears in Table 1 (and on the Activity Sheet). An Excel version of the data set is included along with this lesson.



Table 1. Hurricane names and death totals for the years 1950 to 2012.



Hurricane



Year


Gender of Name

Number of

Deaths



Hurricane



Year


Gender of Name

Number of Deaths

Easy

1950

Female

2

Elena

1985

Female

4

King

1950

Male

4

Gloria

1985

Female

8

Able

1952

Male

3

Juan

1985

Male

12

Barbara

1953

Female

1

Kate

1985

Female

5

Florence

1953

Female

0

Bonnie

1986

Female

3

Carol

1954

Female

60

Charley

1986

Male

5

Edna

1954

Female

20

Floyd

1987

Male

0

Hazel

1954

Female

20

Florence

1988

Female

1

Connie

1955

Female

0

Chantal

1989

Female

13

Diane

1955

Female

200

Hugo

1989

Male

21

Ione

1955

Male

7

Jerry

1989

Male

3

Flossy

1956

Female

15

Bob

1991

Male

15

Helene

1958

Female

1

Andrew

1992

Male

62

Debra

1959

Female

0

Emily

1993

Female

3

Gracie

1959

Female

22

Erin

1995

Female

6

Donna

1960

Female

50

Opal

1995

Female

9

Ethel

1960

Female

0

Bertha

1996

Female

8

Carla

1961

Female

46

Fran

1996

Female

26

Cindy

1963

Female

3

Danny

1997

Male

10

Cleo

1964

Female

3

Bonnie

1998

Female

3

Dora

1964

Female

5

Earl

1998

Male

3

Hilda

1964

Female

37

Georges

1998

Male

1

Isbell

1964

Female

3

Bret

1999

Male

0

Betsy

1965

Female

75

Floyd

1999

Male

56

Alma

1966

Female

6

Irene

1999

Female

8

Inez

1966

Female

3

Lili

2002

Female

2

Beulah

1967

Female

15

Claudette

2003

Female

3

Gladys

1968

Female

3

Isabel

2003

Female

51

Camille

1969

Female

256

Alex

2004

Male

1

Celia

1970

Female

22

Charley

2004

Male

10

Edith

1971

Female

0

Frances

2004

Female

7

Fern

1971

Female

2

Gaston

2004

Male

8

Ginger

1971

Female

0

Ivan

2004

Male

25

Agnes

1972

Female

117

Jeanne

2004

Female

5

Carmen

1974

Female

1

Cindy

2005

Female

1

Eloise

1975

Female

21

Dennis

2005

Male

15

Belle

1976

Female

5

Ophelia

2005

Female

1

Babe

1977

Female

0

Rita

2005

Female

62

Bob

1979

Male

1

Wilma

2005

Female

5

David

1979

Male

15

Humberto

2007

Male

1

Frederic

1979

Male

5

Dolly

2008

Female

1

Allen

1980

Male

2

Gustav

2008

Male

52

Alicia

1983

Female

21

Ike

2008

Male

84

Diana

1984

Female

3

Irene

2011

Female

41

Bob

1985

Male

0

Isaac

2012

Male

5

Danny

1985

Male

1

Sandy

2012

Female

159

*Note: hurricanes Katrina in 2005 (1833 deaths) and Audrey in 1957 (416 deaths) were removed from the data set.


Present the data to students and have them input the relevant values into a computer spreadsheet or their calculator. Once the data is ready for analysis, students will proceed through the questions on the activity worksheet.
III. Analyze the Data

The data analysis begins with students suggesting a graph that might be used to use to compare the death totals for Female and Male named hurricanes. Comparative graphs such as boxplots would be the most appropriate graphs for displaying these distributions.


Students then calculate the mean, standard deviation, and five-number summary of the death totals for Female and Male named hurricanes. The corresponding calculations are provided in Table 2.
Table 2. Numerical summaries of the hurricane death totals.

Gender

Mean

S.D.

Min

Q1

Median

Q3

Max

Female

23.76

47.47

0

2

5

21

256

Male

14.23

21.16

0

1

5

15

84

Once the values have been calculated, ask students which measure, the mean or the median, better represents a typical number of deaths from a hurricane and why? If, for example, we consider the Female named hurricanes, the mean would suggest that in a typical hurricane, there are about 24 deaths. However, by examining the data set, 49 of the 62, or 79% of the Female named death totals are less than or equal to 24 deaths. On the other hand, the median would suggest that in a typical hurricane there are 5 deaths. And, by definition, 50% of the Female named death totals are less than or equal to 5 deaths. Answers to this question may vary, but it seems that 5 deaths may be a more typical representation than would 24 deaths.


For each of the Female and Male named hurricanes, students determine whether there are any outliers. For the Female named hurricanes, the and so the lower fence = and the upper fence = Thus, any death totals above 49.5 are considered outliers. For the Females, we see that there are 9 outliers in death totals. For the Male named hurricanes, the and so the lower fence = and the upper fence = Thus, any death totals above 36 are considered outliers. For the Males, we see that there are 4 outliers.
Next, students construct comparative boxplots to display the distributions of the number of deaths for Female and Male named hurricanes. Once the boxplots have been constructed, discuss with students how to interpret them. Students should understand that there are about the same number of deaths between the minimum and Q1, Q1 to Q2 (median), Q2 to Q3, and Q3 to the maximum, or approximately 25% of the data will lie in each of these four intervals. The boxplots are displayed in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Comparative boxplots of number of deaths for Male vs Female hurricanes.


In order to examine the effect of an outlier or outliers on numerical calculations, ask students to consider only the Female named hurricanes. Earlier, it was noted that hurricanes Audrey (416 deaths) and Katrina (1833 deaths) were omitted from the analysis. Ask students to add the death totals from these two hurricanes to the dataset and redo the summary calculations. Then ask them to again explain which measure, the mean or the median, better represents a typical number of deaths from a hurricane and why? The revised calculations for the Female named hurricanes are shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Numerical summaries of Female named hurricane death totals, including hurricanes Audrey and Katrina.

Katrina/Audrey

Included

Mean

S.D.

Min

Q1

Median

Q3

Max


No

23.76

47.47

0

2

5

21

256

Yes

58.16

235.33

0

2

5

22

1833

When the death totals for Audrey and Katrina are added to the data set, we see that the mean increases from about 24 to about 58. Additionally, the standard deviation experiences a vast increase from about 48 to about 235. With the two hurricanes excluded, we would claim that in a typical hurricane, there are about 24 deaths, give or take about 47 deaths. With the two hurricanes included, we would claim that in a typical hurricane, there are about 58 deaths, give or take about 235 deaths. Students can begin to see that when extreme outliers are part of a data set, the mean and standard deviation values could be strongly affected. The median number of deaths, on the other hand, remains unchanged at 5 deaths. Also note that the value of the Interquartile Range (IQR) changes by only 1 death. Students can see that the quartiles are not affected by extreme data values and are therefore resistant (robust) measures of center and spread. The mean and standard deviation are not resistant.



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