Question

A dairy researcher has developed a new technique for culturing cheese that supposedly ages the cheese faster than the traditional methods, without affecting other properties like texture or taste. To implement this new technique, the cheese company would need to initially spend millions of dollars retrofitting their manufacturing plant. But if it does actually reduce the aging time of their cheese, even marginally, it will lead to higher profits for the company over time.In an experiment the researcher uses both methods of culturing cheese to see if the new method significantlyreduces aging time.a.Write an appropriate null and alternative hypothesis for this experiment. (2pt)

Answer 1

Null hypothesis: There is no significant difference in aging time of old methods of culturing cheese and the new method of culturing cheese.

Or

H0:μ1=μ2.

Alternative hypothesis: The new method of culturing cheese reduces aging time as compared to old method of culturing cheese

Or

Ha:μ1>μ2.

Explanation:

We are interesting in investigating that whether the the new method of culturing cheese significantly reduces aging time compared to old method of culturing cheese. Null hypothesis always contain equality so, in null hypothesis we make the statement of no difference among both methods of culturing cheese. So, null hypothesis can be written as

Null hypothesis: There is no significant difference in mean aging time of old methods of culturing cheese and the new method of culturing cheese.

Or symbolically it can be written as

H0:μ1=μ2

whereas μ1 represents mean aging time for old method and μ2 represents mean aging time for new method.

Alternative hypothesis includes difference in methods which in this case is the claim about new method of culturing cheese reduces aging time. So, it means that mean aging time of old method will be greater than mean aging time of new method. So, the alternative hypothesis can be written as

Alternative hypothesis: The new method of culturing cheese reduces mean aging time as compared to old method of culturing cheese

Or symbolically it can be written as

Ha:μ1>μ2

whereas μ1 represents mean aging time for old method and μ2 represents mean aging time for new method.