Question

An occupational safety officer for a large company is conducting a study to investigate back problems in office workers who use a computer for most of the workday. The study will investigate the difference in back problems for workers who stand and workers who sit. A group of 68 volunteers have agreed to participate in the nine-month study. Half the group is randomly assigned to work while standing, and the other half is assigned to work while sitting. At the end of the study, the mean number of back problems between the two groups will be calculated. The officer will use the results to estimate the difference in the mean number of back problems between those who work while standing and those who work while sitting.

Which of the following is an appropriate inference procedure for the study?

a. A one-sample t-interval for a population mean.
b. A one-sample t-interval for a sample mean.
с. A matched pairs t-interval for a mean difference.
d. A two-sample t-interval for a difference between sample means

Answer 1

с. A matched pairs t-interval for a mean difference.

Explanation:

With the sample, we will have possession of the sample mean and of the sample standard deviation, which means that the t-distribution will be used.

We want to find the mean number of back problems for each sample, and estimate the difference. Since the groups are similar, with only the positions in which they work being different, we have matched pairs. So the correct answer is given by option c.