OCR S4 2013 June — Question 4

Exam BoardOCR
ModuleS4 (Statistics 4)
Year2013
SessionJune
TopicWilcoxon tests

4 The effect of water salinity on the growth of a type of grass was studied by a biologist. A random sample of 22 seedlings was divided into two groups \(A\) and \(B\), each of size 11 .
Group \(A\) was treated with water of \(0 \%\) salinity and group \(B\) was treated with water of \(0.5 \%\) salinity. After three weeks the height (in cm) of each seedling was measured with the following results, which are ordered for convenience.
Group \(A\)8.69.49.79.810.110.511.011.211.812.7
Group \(B\)7.48.48.58.89.29.39.59.910.011.1
Jeffery was asked to test whether the two treatments resulted, on average, in a difference in growth. He chose the Wilcoxon rank sum test.
  1. Justify Jeffery's choice of test.
  2. Carry out the test at the \(5 \%\) significance level.