What is an effective way of learning a complicated game such as chess? One recent study (de Bruin et al, 2007) had people learn using one of three methods: watching people play the game (the Watching condition) , watching and making predictions regarding what moves each player would do (the Predicting condition) , or watching and making predictions regarding what moves each player would do and explaining the reason for their prediction (the Explaining condition) . Later, each person played a series of games of chess against a computer and the percentage of time each person made correct moves was recorded; the higher the percentage, the better the player's ability to play chess. The researchers hypothesized that players who had to explain their predictions would have a higher ability than people who simply made predictions, who in turn would have a higher ability than those who simply watched others.
You decide to conduct the analytical comparison of Watching vs. Predicting.
In conducting this analytical comparison, how should the null and alternative hypotheses be stated?

Question

What is an effective way of learning a complicated game such as chess? One recent study (de Bruin et al, 2007) had people learn using one of three methods: watching people play the game (the Watching condition) , watching and making predictions regarding what moves each player would do (the Predicting condition) , or watching and making predictions regarding what moves each player would do and explaining the reason for their prediction (the Explaining condition) . Later, each person played a series of games of chess against a computer and the percentage of time each person made correct moves was recorded; the higher the percentage, the better the player's ability to play chess. The researchers hypothesized that players who had to explain their predictions would have a higher ability than people who simply made predictions, who in turn would have a higher ability than those who simply watched others.

You decide to conduct the analytical comparison of Watching vs. Predicting.
In conducting this analytical comparison, how should the null and alternative hypotheses be stated?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The null hypothesis should state that there is no significant difference between the mean percentage of correct moves made by people in the Watching condition and the Predicting condition. The alternative hypothesis should state that there is a significant difference between the mean percentage of correct moves made by people in the Watching condition and the Predicting condition. Therefore, choice B correctly states the null and alternative hypotheses as μWatching = μPredicting for the null hypothesis and μWatching ≠ μPredicting for the alternative hypothesis.

What Is an Effective Way of Learning a Complicated Game