Question 5

A researcher wants to test whether a new anxiety treatment based on mindfulness meditation changes anxiety levels.It is not known whether the new treatment will increase or decrease anxiety. In the general population, researchers know that anxiety is normally distributed with m = 26 and s = 3.5 using an anxiety inventory. After three months of trying this treatment one person is randomly selected from the 30 people who trying the new treatment, and her anxiety score is 18. Using the .05 level of significance, what should the researcher conclude? Please use the five steps of significance testing.

Restate the question as a research hypothesis and a null hypothesis about the populations.

Determine the characteristics of the comparison distribution.

Determine the cutoff sample score (or critical value) on the comparison distribution at which the null hypothesis should be rejected.

Determine your sample's score on the comparison distribution.

Decide whether to reject the null hypothesis.