Question

You obtain an internship with state Senator Sandra Williams. A group in favor of a stronger seat belt law requiring them for all passengers (front and back) is lobbying her to sponsor legislation. They base the need for a law on that the hospital costs per person who get into an accident without wearing a seat belt is greater than what the national mean shows. (The national mean was reported as being $4,300 per person with a standard deviation of $2,875.) The Senator knows that you took statistics and asks you to do a sample to see if this claim is realistic. You obtain information on 36 randomly selected cases. They have a distribution that appears to be normal with a mean of $ 4,975. Test the lobbyists claim at the .10 level. Be sure to identify the claim and write the null and alternative hypothesis. What do you conclude about the null? Is the claim supported? Should the Senator support the law based on your results?

Answer 1