A decision maker wishes to test the following null and alternative hypotheses using an alpha level equal to 0.05:

H0: m1  m2  0 HA: m1  m2  0 The population standard deviations are assumed to be known. After collecting the sample data, the test statistic is computed to be z  1.78

a. Using the test statistic approach, what conclusion should be reached about the null hypothesis?

b. Using the p-value approach, what decision should be reached about the null hypothesis?

c. Will the two approaches (test statistic and p-value)
ever provide different conclusions based on the same sample data? Explain.