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11.2: One Mean T Test

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    105861
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    Next, we will learn how to apply the One Mean \(T\) Procedure to test a statistical claim about a population mean. Consider the following example.

    An incubation period is a time between when you contract a virus and when your symptoms start. Assume that the population of incubation periods for a novel coronavirus is normally distributed. By surveying randomly selected local hospitals, a researcher was able to obtain the following sample of incubation periods of \(10\) patients:

    6, 2, 4, 3, 3, 7, 5, 8, 5, 7

    At \(5\%\) significance level, test the claim that the average incubation period of the novel coronavirus is less than \(6\) days.

    Note that the average of the sample is \(\bar{x}_i=5\) and since the population standard deviation is not given, we compute the sample standard deviation instead \(s=2\).

    Now, let’s identify the statistical claim that needs to be tested:

    “the average incubation period of the novel coronavirus is less than 6 days”

    The key word “average” suggests that the claim is about the parameter \(\mu\), so we can symbolically express the claim as

    \(\mu<6\)

    Since the claim is about the population mean and the standard deviation is unknown, we will use the one mean \(T\) procedure. Let’s check if all necessary assumptions are satisfied:

    • The sample is simple random
    • The population is normally distributed
    • The population standard deviation, \(\sigma\), is unknown but \(s=2\)

    We will use the following template to perform the hypothesis testing:

    In step 1, we will set up the hypothesis:

    Since the claim is in the form of an inequality, therefore it must be set as an alternative hypothesis, therefore the null hypothesis is \(\mu=6\) and the test is left-tail, that is:

    \(H_0: \mu=6\)

    \(H_a: \mu<6\)

     

    LT

    In step 2, we will identify the significance level:

    The significance level can always be found in the text of the problem. In our case it is \(5\%\), thus:

    \(\alpha=0.05\)

    In step 3, we will find the test statistic using the formula:

    \(t_0=\frac{\bar{x}_i-\mu_0}{s/\sqrt{n}}=\frac{5-6}{2/\sqrt{10}}=-1.58\)

    In step 4, we will perform either the critical value approach or p-value approach to test the claim:

    • In critical value approach, we construct the rejection region using the \(T\)-curve with \(df=n-1=10-1=9\):

    RR: less than  \(-t_{0.05}=-1.833\)

    • In p-value approach, we compute the p-value using the \(T\)-curve with \(df=n-1=10-1=9\):

    P-Value:  \(P(T<-1.58)=0.074\)

    In step 5, we will draw the conclusion:

    • In the critical value approach, we must check whether the test statistic is in the rejection region or not. Our test statistic is \(-1.58\) and it is to the right of the critical value \(-1.833\), thus it is not in the rejection region.
    • In the p-value approach, we must check whether the p-value is less than the significance level or not. Our p-value is \(0.074\) and it is greater than \(\alpha\) .

    Both tests suggest that we DO NOT reject the null hypothesis in favor of the alternative.

    In step 6, we will interpret the results:

    Under \(5\%\) significance level we DO NOT have sufficient evidence to suggest that the mean incubation period is less than \(6\) days.

    We discussed how to apply the One Mean T Procedure to test a statistical claim about a population mean when the population standard deviation is not given.


    11.2: One Mean T Test is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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