Question

Researchers studied the effects of learning about the effectiveness of a new medication (Tal & Wansink, 2014). Some participants heard information about the medication; others heard the same information and saw a graph that depicted the data they had heard about. Thus, the two groups had identical information. Participants rated the effectiveness of the medication on a scale of 1-9, with 9 indicating a higher level of effectiveness. The researchers reported “Participants given graphs expressed greater belief in the claims, rating the medication as more effective (6.83 of 9) than did participants given verbal description only (6.12 of 9).” The results were statistically significant. The researchers titled their paper “Blinded with Science” because the mere presence of a scientific cue – a graph – altered perceptions of medication. Use this example to answer questions 22, 23, and 24 *Parts a, b, c

Answer 1

Question 22:

Two sample independent t-test

The samples are independent and are assumed to be Normal

Question 23:

The descriptive statistics calculated are mean and the variances of each sample.

Inferential statistics: t-test for two sample

Question 24:

The critical value or the p-value of t at appropriate degrees of freedom. It is essential to know because based on a comparison of the calculated statistic and the p-value or the critical calue, we make our decision whether to reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis.