Suppose that a school superintendent wanted to try out a new method of teaching mathematics
to 8th graders and that he has decided to ask the math teachers in one middle school to use the
traditional approach and the math teachers in another school to use the experimental approach.
Assume that the math teachers in both schools have very similar teaching ability, education,
years of teaching experience, and credits earned, and that the students in both schools had very
similar math achievement scores at the end of the 7th grade. Suppose that the Iowa Test of Basic
Skills (ITBS) was used at the end of the 8th grade and that grade equivalent (GE) scores in the
Math Problem Solving and Data Interpretation subtest were used to compare the two teaching
methods. The traditional approach was used on 124 pupils who had a mean GE score of 8.7 and a
standard deviation of 0.8. The experimental approach was used on 135 pupils who had a mean
GE score of 8.9 and a standard deviation of 0.7.
(a) State the null hypothesis and the research hypothesis on an Excel spreadsheet.
(b) Find the standard error of the difference between the means using Excel
(c) Find the critical t value using table provided at the end of assignment, and enter it on
your spreadsheet.
(d) Perform a t-test on these data using Excel.
-What is the value of t that you obtain? (Use three decimal places)
(e) State your result on your spreadsheet.
(f) State your conclusion in plain English on your spreadsheet
2. Massachusetts Mutual Financial Group (2010) placed a full-page color ad in The Wall Street Journal in which it used a male model hugging a two-year old daughter. The ad had the headline and sub-headline: WHAT IS THE SIGN OF A GOOD DECISION? Its knowing your life insurance can help provide income for retirement. And peace of mind until you get there. Since the majority of the subscribers to The Wall Street Journal are men, an interesting research question would be the following:
Research question: Does a male model in a magazine ad affect adult mens or adult womens willingness to learn more about how life insurance can provide income for retirement?
Suppose that you have shown one group of adult males (ages 2539) and one group of adult females (ages 2539) a mockup of an ad such that both groups saw the ad with a male model. The ads were identical in copy format. The two groups were kept separate during the experiment and could not interact with one another. At the end of a one-hour discussion of the mockup ad, the respondents were asked the question given below: ******attached The resulting hypothetical data for this question appear ****
3. Suppose that a school superintendent wanted to try out a new method of teaching vocabulary to third graders and that he has decided to ask one teacher in one elementary school to use the traditional approach to teaching vocabulary, and another teacher in a different school to use an experimental approach to teaching vocabulary. Assume that the teachers have very similar teaching ability, education, years of teaching experience, and credits earned, and that the students in both schools had very similar vocabulary test scores at the end of the second grade. Suppose that the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) was used at the end of the third grade and that grade equivalent (GE) scores in the Vocabulary subtest were used to compare the two teaching methods. The traditional approach was used on 18 pupils who had a mean GE score of 3.7 and a standard deviation of 0.8. The experimental approach was used on 19 pupils who had a mean GE score of 4.3 and a standard deviation of 0.7.
(a) State the null hypothesis and the research hypothesis on an Excel spreadsheet.
(b) Find the standard error of the difference between the means using Excel
(c) Find the critical t value using table provided at end of assignment, and enter it on your spreadsheet.
(d) Perform a t-test on these data using Excel.
-What is the value of t that you obtain?
(e) State your result on your spreadsheet.
(f) State your conclusion in plain English on your spreadsheet.
