KNR 445
Statistical Applications in Science & Technology
Introduction to Hypothesis Testing

The purpose of this assignment is to introduce the concept of hypothesis testing, in this case comparing a sample value to a population value. The data to be used is the CDC smoking data.

Homework

1. Using the region variable assigned to each state in earlier assignments:
        a. compare the mean value of the six different regions to the population mean value for the variable "% of population over 18 who smokes" using
                 i.     alpha = 0.05
                ii.     alpha = 0.01
                iii. How many of the regions were significantly different from the population mean value using alpha = 0.05?
                iv. How many of the regions were significantly different from the population mean value using alpha = 0.01?
        b. Identify the regions that
                i. were significantly different at both the 0.05 and 0.01 levels.
                ii. were not significantly different at both the 0.05 and 0.01 levels.
                iii. Explain how a difference can be significant at 0.05 but not at 0.01 if the difference between the sample mean and the population mean is the same in both of the comparisons.
        c. Write an introductory paragraph to justify YOUR selection of an appropriate alpha level.
        d. Taking into consideration the level you selected in b, write up the results of the hypothesis test for each of the six regions using the format presented in class notes.
SPSS Output