Question

Businesses such as General Mills, Kellogg's, and Betty Crocker regularly use coupons to build brand allegiance and stimulate sales. Marketers believe that the users of paper coupons are different from the users of e-coupons accessed through the Internet. One survey recorded the age of each person who redeemed a coupon along with the type of coupon (either paper or electronic). The sample of 20 traditional paper-coupon clippers had a mean age of 35.5 with a standard deviation of 8.8. The sample of 35 e-coupon users had a mean age of 40.6 years with a standard deviation of 4.5. Assume the population standard deviations are not the same.

Using a significance level of 0.100, test the hypothesis of no difference in the mean ages of the two groups of coupon clients. Hint: For the calculations, assume e-coupon as the first sample.

1. Find the degrees of freedom for unequal variance test. (Round down answer to nearest whole number.)

2. State the decision rule for 0.100 significance level: H₀: μ_e-coupon = μ_traditional ; H₁: μ_e-coupon ≠ μ_traditional. (Negative amounts should be indicated by a minus sign. Round your answers to 3 decimal places.)

3. Compute the value of the test statistic. (Negative amount should be indicated by a minus sign. Round your answer to 2 decimal places.)

4. Test the hypothesis of no difference in the mean ages of the two groups of coupon clients.

Answer 1

(a)- d.f.=53

(b)- reject the null hypothesis, that is mean age of two groups of coupe clients differ significantly

(c)- t= 2.79