A manufacturer informs a customer’s design engineers that the mean tensile strength of its rivets is at least 3000 pounds. A test is set up to measure the tensile strength of a sample of rivets, with the null and alternative hypotheses, H0: μ ≥ 3000 and H1: μ < 3000. For each of the following individuals, indicate whether the person would tend to prefer a numerically very high (e.g., α = 0.20) or a numerically very low (e.g., α = 0.0001) level of significance to be specified for the test.
a. The marketing director for a major competitor of the rivet manufacturer.
b. The rivet manufacturer’s advertising agency, which has already made the “at least 3000 pounds” claim in national ads.