Homework: Hypothesis Testing

1. For each of the following alternative hypotheses, decide if they are directional or nondirectional. (2 points)
a. Girls have better verbal intelligence than boys.
Directional, hypotheses specifies direction (girls have better verbal intelligence)
b. Group A has lower scores than group B.
Directional, direction is that A is lower than B
c. Ethnic groups differ on their willingness to seek medical care.
Non-directional, makes no move to determine/predict which scores will be greater
d. There is a difference in heart rate variability between children who were abused and
children who were not abused.
Non-directional, doesnt try to predict direction before tested
2. A researcher wants to know whether a certain sports drink, SuperPower, helps marathon
runners run faster or slower than those who do not drink SuperPower. If the researcher was
to run an experiment, collect data, and run a hypothesis test, would s/he use a one- or twotailed test to test for a statistically significant effect? Why? (2 points)
Since this is a non-directional hypothesis, as it does not attempt to say that runners perform
better with SuperPower than without, so they would use a two tailed hypothesis. Each tail
tests the significance of each directionso one half would be runners who used the drink and
runners who did notin order to compare the two.
3. For each of the following, decide if you should accept the null hypothesis or reject the null
hypothesis. (2 points)
a. = .05, p = .26
We would accept the null hypothesis because the p value (or probability of the null
hypothesis being true) is greater than the alpha. Only a 5% chance of the results actually
being truefalse positive.
b. critical value = 8, calculated value = 4
Since the calculated value is lower than the critical value, we would not reject the null
hypothesis and would instead accept it.
c. p = .05, = .01
Since the p value is greater than the alpha, we would not reject the null hypothesis and
would accept it. Only 1% chance that of a false positive.
d. calculated value = 2.5, critical value = 2.0
The critical value is less than the calculated value, so we would reject the null hypothesis.
4. A researcher wants to conduct a study to examine the effectiveness of nicotine gum in getting
people to quit smoking. Smokers are randomly assigned to either chew nicotine gum or
regular gum, and the number of cigarettes each participant smokes is recorded. Please
address the following with regard to this study:
a. What would be the null hypothesis? (1 point)
b. What would be the alternative hypothesis? (1 point)
c. Define Type I error with respect to this study. (2 points)
d. Define Type II error with respect to this study. (2 points)
Page 1 of 2

e. What can you do to decrease the probability of a Type I error? What effect will that
have on the probability of a Type II error? (2 points)
5. Lets say that there was a statistically significant finding for the study described in question
4. Make an argument for why the researcher would now need to take into consideration
effect size. (2 points)
6. An IQ test is normally distributed and has a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. You
randomly select a group of students from Northeastern (n = 40) and find that their mean IQ
score is 105. Is this sample of Northeastern students consistent with the population? Set up
and execute your hypothesis test, as well as calculate your answer and draw your
conclusions. Please use the steps weve been learning about, and make sure to show all of
your work. Use an = .01. (10 points)
7. As you might know, the GRE is a standardized test that people take for admission to graduate
school (similar to how high school students take the SAT or the ACT for admission to
college). One of the subtests of the GRE is quantitative reasoning. Until recently, this
subtest was scored on a scale from 200-800. The statistics for the test were = 584 and =
149, and scores were normally distributed. Lets say that for your school, the mean on this
test was a 700 (n = 300), and you want to argue that your school has more graduate school
potential than the entire population of those taking the GRE. Set up and execute your
hypothesis test, as well as calculate your answer and draw your conclusions. Please use the
steps weve been learning about, and make sure to show all of your work. (10 points)
8. Please calculate a 99% confidence interval about a sample mean of 23, with a sample size of
35 and a standard deviation of 20. Show your work, and give a conclusion, in words. (3
points)

Page 2 of 2