Question

Problem #10

A study at the Department of Agriculture compared two methods of determining the level of bacteria in beef. The two different methods (A and B) were used on each of ten randomly
selected specimens of a certain type of beef. The data obtained, in millimicrobes/liter of ground
beef, for each of the methods are shown in the table below.

a) Dr. Jones wants to conduct a 2 sample inference test. The results for each of the samples
must be independent. Does that fact that the level of bacteria for both methods are
determined using the same piece of beef affect this condition? Why or Why not?
Explain your reasoning

Answer 1

Yes, the fact that the level of bacteria for both methods are determined using the same piece of beef affects the independence condition for a 2 sample inference test

Explanation:

For a 2 sample inference test, we need to have two independent samples. Independence means that the values in one sample are not related or influenced by the values in the other sample. In this case, the two methods (A and B) are used on the same ten specimens of beef. Therefore, the level of bacteria for one method is related to the level of bacteria for the other method, since they are both measured on the same piece of beef.

Because of this relationship between the two methods, the values obtained using Method A are not independent of the values obtained using Method B. This means that we cannot treat the two sets of data as independent samples, and a 2 sample inference test would not be appropriate. Therefore, we would need to use a different statistical method to compare the two methods for measuring bacteria in beef.