Polling organizations regularly collect data on the public’s opinions and habits. A question on a recent survey asked, “How often do you purchase coffee from a coffeehouse?” There may be differences in how people respond to this question based on whether the person is a full-time student. Suppose a polling organization uses random digit dialing of local phone numbers to take a poll and asks respondents whether they are full-time students. In addition, they ask respondents to identify how often they purchase coffee from a coffeehouse (never, once a week, two to three times a week, daily, more than once a day). The data are collected in a 5-by-2 table of counts. Which of the following is the appropriate null hypothesis when conducting a chi-square test for the data? A) H0 : The proportion of people for each category in the 5-by-2 table will be 10 percent. B) H0 : For each purchasing frequency, the proportion of full-time students is different. C) H0 : How often a person purchases coffee from a coffeehouse is not associated with whether a person is a full-time student. D) H0 : How often a person purchases coffee from a coffeehouse is dependent on whether a person is a full-time student. E) H0 : There is an association between how often a person purchases coffee from a coffeehouse and whether a person is a full-time student.
Polling organizations regularly collect data on the public’s opinions and habits. A question on a recent survey asked, “How often do you purchase coffee from a coffeehouse?” There may be differences in how people respond to this question based on whether the person is a full-time student. Suppose a polling organization uses random digit dialing of local phone numbers to take a poll and asks respondents whether they are full-time students. In addition, they ask respondents to identify how often they purchase coffee from a coffeehouse (never, once a week, two to three times a week, daily, more than once a day). The data are collected in a 5-by-2 table of counts. Which of the following is the appropriate null hypothesis when conducting a chi-square test for the data?
A) H0 : The proportion of people for each category in the 5-by-2 table will be 10 percent.
B) H0 : For each purchasing frequency, the proportion of full-time students is different.
C) H0 : How often a person purchases coffee from a coffeehouse is not associated with whether a person is a full-time student.
D) H0 : How often a person purchases coffee from a coffeehouse is dependent on whether a person is a full-time student.
E) H0 : There is an association between how often a person purchases coffee from a coffeehouse and whether a person is a full-time student.
Answered
Answer: C) H0 : How often a person purchases coffee from a coffeehouse is not associated with whether a person is a full-time student.
Explanation: The null hypothesis for a chi-square test of independence states that there is no association between the two categorical variables.
