CAIE S2 2004 November — Question 7

Exam BoardCAIE
ModuleS2 (Statistics 2)
Year2004
SessionNovember
TopicHypothesis test of binomial distributions
TypeCritique inappropriate sampling methods

7 In a research laboratory where plants are studied, the probability of a certain type of plant surviving was 0.35 . The laboratory manager changed the growing conditions and wished to test whether the probability of a plant surviving had increased.
  1. The plants were grown in rows, and when the manager requested a random sample of 8 plants to be taken, the technician took all 8 plants from the front row. Explain what was wrong with the technician’s sample.
  2. A suitable sample of 8 plants was taken and 4 of these 8 plants survived. State whether the manager's test is one-tailed or two-tailed and also state the null and alternative hypotheses. Using a \(5 \%\) significance level, find the critical region and carry out the test.
  3. State the meaning of a Type II error in the context of the test in part (ii).
  4. Find the probability of a Type II error for the test in part (ii) if the probability of a plant surviving is now 0.4.