Question

A drug manufacturer claims that its new drug causes faster red-cell buildup in anemic people than the drug currently used. A team of doctors tests the drug on 6 randomly selected people and compares the results with the current buildup factor of 7.1 (this is the buildup factor for the current drug). The results of the 6 peoples are (theses are red-cell buildup factors):

6.3 7.8 8.1 8.3 8.7 9.4.

Test the manufacturer’s claim by stating the null and alternative hypothesis, then make your decision and draw your conclusions using the following methods. (Note: since this is a medical study, researchers often want to be very certain that a new drug does what it states it does. As a result, the test is often performed with a low level of significance, as is the case here, meaning that you require very strong evidence against the null hypothesis before you will reject it)

(a) Classical testing at α = 1% (1 calculations, 1 H0/Ha, 3 for test = 5 marks)

(b) The p-value method.

Requirement: (If the question is a hypothesis test question)

• State your null and alternative hypothesis with the correct symbols, the correct inequality sign, and in words

• Calculate the value of your test statistic

• For classical testing, give the critical value of z or t; for the p-value method, calculate the p-value (as an exact value OR as a range)

• Make your decision at the stated level of significance; if no level of significance is given, you need to decide how to proceed

• Finally, you need a conclusion. The conclusion should consist of THREE things: o Is the null hypothesis plausible of not? o Is your result (the value of the sample statistic) statistically significant or insignificant? o What is the conclusion of the test in the CONTEXT of the question?

Answer 1