In Case Study 6.1, a study was described that compared scores on a mock GRE exam for students who had learned and practiced meditation and students who had taken nutrition class (Mrazek et al., 2013). Although the analysis used by the researchers was somewhat compli­cated, for simplicity in this exercise, suppose the measure of interest was the difference in mean GRE scores for the two groups. The researchers were interested in showing that practicing meditation boosts mean GRE scores.
a. The null hypothesis can be stated as “Population mean difference = null value.” What is the null value?
b. Write the alternative hypothesis for this situation.
c. Describe what a type 1 error would be in this situation.
d. Describe what a type 2 error would be in this situation.
e. Discuss the consequences of the two types of errors in this situation. Which error do you think is more serious? (There is no correct answer; it is your reasoning that counts.)