A researcher is testing the effect of a new cold and flu medication on mental alertness. A sample of n=9 college students is obtained and each student is given the normal dose of the medicine. Thirty minutes later, each students performance is measured on a video game that requires careful attention and quick decision making. The scores for the nine students are as follows: 6,8,10,6,7,13,5,5,3.

Question

A researcher is testing the effect of a new cold and flu medication on mental alertness. A sample of n=9 college students is obtained and each student is given the normal dose of the medicine. Thirty minutes later, each students performance is measured on a video game that requires careful attention and quick decision making. The scores for the nine students are as follows: 6,8,10,6,7,13,5,5,3.
a. Assuming that scores for students in the regular population average u=10, are the data sufficient to conclude that the medication has a significant effect on mental performance? Test at the .05 level of significance.

MathGuru · Answer

Try a one-sample t-test since your sample size is small. You will need to calculate the mean and standard deviation. Use a t-table to find the critical value at .05 level of significance for a one-tailed test. Degrees of freedom is (n - 1). Sample size (n) is 9.