A company that produces financial accounting software wants to offer better training to its customers. The training is intended to decrease the amount of time required to do complicated accounting calculations. For seven individuals, the amount of time (in minutes) to complete a complicated calculation is determined before and after completing the new training. Using the p-value approach and α = 0.05, the appropriate conclusion is ________.
A) do not reject the null hypothesis; we cannot conclude the median difference of the times is greater than zero
B) do not reject the null hypothesis; we can conclude the median difference of the times is greater than zero
C) reject the null hypothesis; we cannot conclude the median difference of the times is greater than zero
D) reject the null hypothesis; we can conclude the median difference of the times is greater than zero

Question

A company that produces financial accounting software wants to offer better training to its customers. The training is intended to decrease the amount of time required to do complicated accounting calculations. For seven individuals, the amount of time (in minutes) to complete a complicated calculation is determined before and after completing the new training.  Using the p-value approach and α = 0.05, the appropriate conclusion is ________.
A) do not reject the null hypothesis; we cannot conclude the median difference of the times is greater than zero 
B) do not reject the null hypothesis; we can conclude the median difference of the times is greater than zero 
C) reject the null hypothesis; we cannot conclude the median difference of the times is greater than zero 
D) reject the null hypothesis; we can conclude the median difference of the times is greater than zero

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Since we are using the p-value approach with a significance level of 0.05, we compare the p-value to 0.05. If the p-value is greater than 0.05, we do not reject the null hypothesis. If the p-value is less than or equal to 0.05, we reject the null hypothesis in favor of the alternative hypothesis. In this case, the p-value is not given, so we cannot make a definitive conclusion. However, since choice A says "do not reject the null hypothesis," which is always a safe conclusion to make when there is not enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis, it is the best choice.

A Company That Produces Financial Accounting Software Wants to Offer