The Wall Street Journal recently published an article indicating differences in perception of sexual harassment on the job between men and women. The article claimed that women perceived the problem to be much more prevalent than did men. One question asked of both men and women was: "Do you think sexual harassment is a major problem in the American workplace?" 24% of the men compared to 62% of the women responded "Yes." Assuming W designates women's responses and M designates men's, what hypothesis should The Wall Street Journal test in order to show that its claim is true? A) H₀: πW - πM ≥ 0 versus H₁: πW - πM 0 C) H₀: πW - πM = 0 versus H₁: πW - πM ≠ 0 D) H₀: πW - πM ≠ 0 versus H₁: πW - πM = 0

Question

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article indicating differences in perception of sexual harassment on the job between men and women. The article claimed that women perceived the problem to be much more prevalent than did men. One question asked of both men and women was: "Do you think sexual harassment is a major problem in the American workplace?" 24% of the men compared to 62% of the women responded "Yes." Assuming W designates women's responses and M designates men's, what hypothesis should The Wall Street Journal test in order to show that its claim is true?
A) H₀: πW - πM ≥ 0 versus H₁: πW - πM < 0
B) H₀: πW - πM ≤ 0 versus H₁: πW - πM > 0
C) H₀: πW - πM = 0 versus H₁: πW - πM ≠ 0
D) H₀: πW - πM ≠ 0 versus H₁: πW - πM = 0

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The alternative hypothesis should state that women perceive the problem of sexual harassment to be more prevalent than men do. In this case, the null hypothesis should assume no difference between men's and women's perceptions. Therefore, option B is the correct choice as it compares the difference between women's and men's responses (πW - πM) to zero, assuming that the difference is less than or equal to zero in the null hypothesis and greater than zero in the alternative hypothesis.

The Wall Street Journal Recently Published an Article Indicating Differences