A Customer Service Representative Was Interested in Comparing the Average

question 82

Short Answer

A customer service representative was interested in comparing the average time (in minutes) customers are placed on hold when calling Southern California Edison and Southern California Gas companies. The representative obtained two independent random samples and calculated the following summary information: Assume the distributions of time a customer is on hold are approximately normal. Is it reasonable to assume equality of variances in this problem? Test whether there is a significant difference in average time a customer is on hold between the two companies.
Calculate the value of the test statistic. Set up the appropriate rejection region for the test in part (a) assuming = 0.10.
What is the appropriate conclusion?
Test Statistic = ______________
Reject Region: Reject H₀ if |t| > ______________
Conclusion: ______________
One ______________ conclude that there is a significant difference in mean time a customer is on hold between the two companies.

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Definitions:

Cash Basis

An accounting method where revenues are recognized when cash is received and expenses are recognized when paid.

Costs Expire

This concept relates to the recognition of expenses in the income statement when the underlying value or utility of the cost is consumed or no longer exists.

Operating Cycle

The time period between purchasing raw materials and collecting cash from selling finished goods, measuring the efficiency of a company's operations and cash flow.

Extraordinary Item

Unusual and infrequent gains or losses on a company's financial statements, not expected to recur in the foreseeable future, a concept that has been phased out in many accounting standards.