In a two-tailed test of a hypothesis concerning whether a population mean is zero, Jack Olson computes a t-statistic of 2.7 based on a sample of 20 observations where the distribution is normal. If a 5% significance level is chosen, Olson should:
A) |
reject the null hypothesis and conclude that the population mean is significantly different from zero. | |
B) |
reject the null hypothesis and conclude that the population mean is not significantly different from zero. | |
C) |
fail to reject the null hypothesis that the population mean is not significantly different from zero. | |
At a 5% significance level, the critical t-statistic using the Student’s t-distribution table for a two-tailed test and 19 degrees of freedom (sample size of 20 less 1) is ± 2.093 (with a large sample size the critical z-statistic of 1.960 may be used). Because the critical t-statistic of 2.093 is to the left of the calculated t-statistic of 2.7, meaning that the calculated t-statistic is in the rejection range, we reject the null hypothesis and we conclude that the population mean is significantly different from zero. |