A university administrator obtains a sample of the academic records of past and present scholarship athletes at the university. The administrator reports that no significant difference was found in the mean GPA (grade point average) for male and female scholarship athletes (P-value = 0.287). This means that
A) the GPAs for male and female scholarship athletes are identical except for 28.7% of the athletes.
B) the maximum difference in GPAs between male and female scholarship athletes is 0.287.
C) the chance that a pair of randomly chosen male and female scholarship athletes would have a significant difference in GPAs is 0.287.
D) the chance of obtaining a difference in GPAs between male and female scholarship athletes as large as that observed in the sample if there is no actual difference in mean GPAs is 0.287.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The P-value of 0.287 indicates the probability of obtaining a difference in GPAs between male and female scholarship athletes as large as that observed in the sample if there is no actual difference in mean GPAs. Therefore, we fail to reject the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference in the mean GPAs for male and female scholarship athletes. Option A is incorrect because the P-value does not represent a percentage of athletes with identical GPAs. Option B is incorrect because the P-value does not indicate the maximum difference in GPAs between male and female scholarship athletes. Option C is incorrect because the P-value does not represent the chance of obtaining a significant difference in GPAs if we choose a random pair of male and female scholarship athletes.

A University Administrator Obtains a Sample of the Academic Records