• Question 2: The two-sample t-test on shingles patients
• A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of pain alleviation in patients with facial shingles. 24 patients were randomly assigned to one of 2 treatment groups; rest vs. acupuncture. After two weeks of treatment, the subjects were then asked to rate their pain on a scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being the most pain they have ever experienced. The data they recorded is shown below:
• Rest
• Acupuncture
• 5
• 5
• 5
• 6
• 10
• 7
• 9
• 2
• 8
• 9
• 6
• 8
• 9
• 7
• 4
• 4
• 7
• 3
• 8
• 5
• 4
• 9
• 3
• 2

1. State the null and alternative hypotheses.
2. What is the value of t for the analysis?
3. Is this value significant and at what level? Why?
4. Why is a pooled variance test allowed here while a separate variance t-test is not appropriate?