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A study conducted by researchers at Pennsylvania State University investigated w

ID: 3151572 • Letter: A

Question

A study conducted by researchers at Pennsylvania State University investigated whether time perception, and indication of a person’s ability to concentrate, is impaired during nicotine withdrawal. The study results were summarized in the paper “Smoking Abstinence Impairs Time Estimation Accuracy in Cigarette Smokers” (Psychopharmacology Bulletin {2003}: 90-95). After a 24-hour smoking abstinence, 20 smokers were asked to estimate how much time had passed during a 45-second period. Suppose the resulting data on perceived elapsed time (in seconds) were as follows

time<-c(69, 65, 72, 73, 59, 55, 39, 52, 67, 57, 56, 50, 70, 47, 56, 45, 70, 64, 67, 53)

Does this information indicate that the perceived elapsed time is more than 45 seconds? Use a 0.05 level of significance. Make sure you show all the steps of the hypothesis test.

Explanation / Answer

Formulating the null and alternative hypotheses,              
              
Ho:   u   <=   45  
Ha:    u   >   45  
              
As we can see, this is a    right   tailed test.      
              
Thus, getting the critical t,              
df = n - 1 =    19          
tcrit =    +   1.729132812      
              
Getting the test statistic, as              
              
X = sample mean =    59.3          
uo = hypothesized mean =    45          
n = sample size =    20          
s = standard deviation =    9.836024015          
              
Thus, t = (X - uo) * sqrt(n) / s =    6.501767794          
              
Also, the p value is, as this is right tailed,              
              
p =    1.57269E-06          
              
As t > 1.729, and P < 0.05, we   REJECT THE NULL HYPOTHESIS.          

Hence, there is significant evidence that the perceived elapsed time is more than 45 seconds at 0.05 level. [CONCLUSION]