It was thought that hypnosis would lower a person's desire to smoke. A researcher decided to investigate this hypothesis using a paired-sample sign test in which the number of cigarettes/day smoked by subjects was recorded before and after hypnosis. Given that the critical value at α = 0.05 in a one-tailed test is 1, is there enough evidence to support the hypothesis?
A) Since the critical value is less than the test value, there is not enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis. Consequently, the data do not support the hypothesis that hypnosis reduces smoking.
B) Since the critical value is greater than the test value, there is not enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis. Consequently, the data do not support the hypothesis that hypnosis reduces smoking.
C) Since the critical value is less than the test value, there is enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis. Consequently, the data support the hypothesis that hypnosis reduces smoking. .
D) Since the critical value is greater than the test value, there is enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis. Consequently, the data support the hypothesis that hypnosis reduces smoking.

Question

It was thought that hypnosis would lower a person's desire to smoke. A researcher decided to investigate this hypothesis using a paired-sample sign test in which the number of cigarettes/day smoked by subjects was recorded before and after hypnosis. Given that the critical value at α = 0.05 in a one-tailed test is 1, is there enough evidence to support the hypothesis? 
A) Since the critical value is less than the test value, there is not enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis. Consequently, the data do not support the hypothesis that hypnosis reduces smoking. 
B) Since the critical value is greater than the test value, there is not enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis. Consequently, the data do not support the hypothesis that hypnosis reduces smoking. 
C) Since the critical value is less than the test value, there is enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis. Consequently, the data support the hypothesis that hypnosis reduces smoking. . 
D) Since the critical value is greater than the test value, there is enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis. Consequently, the data support the hypothesis that hypnosis reduces smoking.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Since the critical value is 1 for a one-tailed test at α = 0.05, any test statistic larger than 1 would lead to rejecting the null hypothesis. However, the question does not provide the test statistic from the paired-sample sign test, so it is impossible to determine whether the critical value is less than or greater than the test value. Therefore, the best choice is A because it provides a cautious conclusion based on the lack of information.

It Was Thought That Hypnosis Would Lower a Person's Desire