In: Statistics and Probability
An investigator thinks that people under the age of forty have vocabularies that are different than those of people over sixty years of age. The investigator administers a vocabulary test to a group of 31 younger subjects and to a group of 31 older subjects. Higher scores reflect better performance. The mean score for younger subjects was 14.0 and the standard deviation of younger subject's scores was 5.0. The mean score for older subjects was 20.0 and the standard deviation of older subject's scores was 6.0. Does this experiment provide evidence for the investigator's theory? As part of your answer:
a. Please provide, in words, the null and alternative hypotheses. [2 MARKS]
b. Using an alpha level of .05, test the null hypothesis. As part of this test, please compare the actual value for the appropriate statistic against the critical value(s) for the appropriate statistic. [3 MARKS]
c. State your conclusion regarding the results from this test in language that a friend of yours with no knowledge of statistics could understand. [3 MARKS]