Question

A researcher believes that there is a difference in how cautious male stray cats and female stray cats are when approaching people. He knows that the stray cat population is 50% male and 50% female. In order to test this hypothesis, he visits 15 different areas where stray cats live and records the gender of the first cat to approach him. He finds that 11 of the 15 cats that approach him are male. Using a sign test and an alpha of .05: A) What is the null hypothesis

Answer 1

The null hypothesis is that there is no difference in the mean number of male and female cats

H₀; μ₂ - μ₁ = 0

Explanation:

The given parameters are;

The given percentage of male stray cat population = 50%

The given percentage of female stray cat population = 50%

The number of areas the researcher visits, n = 15

The number of stray male cats he finds = 11

The kind of test to be performed = Sign test

The significance level, α = 0.05

A) Therefore the null hypothesis is H₀; μ₂ - μ₁ = 0

The alternative hypothesis is Hₐ; μ₂ - μ₁ ≠ 0.