A Teacher Wants to See If Two Different Forms of an Exam

question 11

Essay

A teacher wants to see if two different forms of an exam are equivalent or if one of the exams is more difficult than the other. She has 120 students, which she randomly sorts into two groups of 60. The group that that takes exam A has a mean score of 78.1% with a standard deviation of 5.6%. Exam B scores an average of 74.8% with a standard deviation of 8.7%.
-Improving productivity A packing company considers hiring a national training consultant in hopes of improving productivity on the packing line. The national consultant agrees to work with 18 employees for one week as part of a trial before the packing company makes a decision about the training program. The training program will be implemented if the average product packed increases by more than 10 cases per day per employee. The packing company manager will test a hypothesis using a = 0.05.
a. Write appropriate hypotheses (in words and in symbols).
b. In this context, which do you consider to be more serious - a Type I or a Type II error? Explain briefly.
c. After this trial produced inconclusive results the manager decided to test the training program again with another group of employees. Describe two changes he could make in the trial to increase the power of the test, and explain the disadvantages of each.

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Definitions:

Imprinting

A form of rapid learning that occurs in some animals shortly after birth or hatching, enabling them to recognize their parent or caregiver.

Attachment

A profound and lasting emotional connection that links one individual to another, transcending both time and distance.

Aggression

Any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy.

Schemas

Cognitive frameworks or concepts that help organize and interpret information from the world around us.