You Want to Design a Controlled Experiment to Determine Which

question 70

Multiple Choice

You want to design a controlled experiment to determine which tablet, PEPCID AC or Alka-Seltzer, neutralizes stomach acid the quickest. Which of the following experiments would be the best to perform?

• A) Place a PEPCID AC tablet in a beaker of acid at pH 2 and an Alka-Seltzer tablet in a separate beaker of acid at pH 2 and check the pH in the beakers every 2 minutes.
• B) Take a PEPCID AC tablet at 8:00 am on Monday and take an Alka-Seltzer tablet at 8:00 am on Tuesday and take note of how long it takes you to feel better.
• C) Find a group of your friends and go out to a big dinner. Then give half of them a PEPCID AC tablet and give the other half an Alka-Seltzer tablet and tell them to write down how long it takes them to feel better.
• D) Place a PEPCID AC tablet in a beaker of acid at pH 2 and an Alka-Seltzer tablet in a separate beaker of acid at pH 2 and record how long it takes for the tablets to dissolve.

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Definitions:

Alternative Hypotheses

The hypothesis that proposes there is a statistically significant difference between two parameters or that a particular parameter is significantly different from a hypothesized value.

Type II Error

The error made when failing to reject a false null hypothesis, often referred to as a "false negative".

Null Hypothesis

A statement used in statistical testing which proposes that no significant difference or effect exists between certain characteristics of a population.

Type I Error

The error of rejecting a true null hypothesis, also known as a "false positive."