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?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Wall Street Journal should test the hypothesis that there is a significant difference in the proportion of men and women who perceive sexual harassment to be a major problem in the American workplace. This can be expressed as:

H0: pM = pW (the proportion of men and women who perceive sexual harassment to be a major problem is the same)
Ha: pM < pW (the proportion of men who perceive sexual harassment to be a major problem is less than the proportion of women)

This hypothesis can be tested using a one-tailed z-test of proportions, with the level of significance set at 0.05. The Wall Street Journal should test the hypothesis that there is a difference between the proportions of men and women who perceive sexual harassment as a major problem in the American workplace. This can be written as:

H0: pM = pW (there is no difference in proportions) 
Ha: pM < pW (proportion of men who perceive sexual harassment as a major problem is significantly lower than proportion of women)

Therefore, the correct choice is B.

The Wall Street Journal Recently Published an Article Indicating Differences