Question

Lester Hollar is vice president for human resources for a large manufacturing company. In recent years, he has noticed an increase in absenteeism that he thinks is related to the general health of the employees. Four years ago, in an attempt to improve the situation, he began a fitness program in which employees exercise during their lunch hour. To evaluate the program, he selected a random sample of eight participants and found the number of days each was absent in the six months before the exercise program began and in the six months following the exercise program. Below are the results.

Employee	Before	After
1	7	5
2	7	2
3	5	1
4	6	3
5	4	3
6	5	6
7	7	4
8	7	7

  Click here for the Excel Data File

At the 0.010 significance level, can he conclude that the number of absences has declined? Estimate the p-value.

1. State the decision rule for 0.010 significance level. (Round your answer to 3 decimal places.)

2. Compute the test statistic. (Round your answer to 3 decimal places.)

3. The p-value is

• Between 0.01 And 0.025

• Between 0.001 And 0.005

• Between 0.005 And 0.01

4. State your decision about the null hypothesis.

• Fail to reject H₀

• Reject H₀

Answer 1

Computational Table:

	Before	After	d = Before - After	d2
	7	5	2	4
	7	2	5	25
	5	1	4	16
	6	3	3	9
	4	3	1	1
	5	6	-1	1
	7	4	3	9
	7	7	0	0
Total			17	65

a)

Hypothesis:

................Number of Absences are declined.

Decision rule:

P-value < , i.e. P-value < 0.10, Then Reject Ho at 10% level of significance.

b)

Calculation:

Test statistic:

C)

Degrees of Freedom = n-1 = 8-1 = 7

P-value: 0.011 .................Using t table

P-value is:

Between 0.01 And 0.025

d)

Conclusion:

P-value > α, i.e. 0.011 > 0.010, That is Fail to Reject Ho at 10% level of significance.

ANSWER: A

Fail to Reject Ho

At the 0.010 significance level, We can not conclude that the number of absences has declined