10.112 Pay discrimination against women? A Time Magazine article titled “Wal-Mart’s Gender Gap” (July 5, 2004)

stated that in 2001 women managers at Wal-Mart earned $14,500 less than their male counterparts.

a. If these data are based on a random sample of managers at Wal-Mart, what more would you need to know about the sample to determine whether this is a “statistically significant” difference?

b. If these data referred to all the managers at Wal-Mart and if you can get the information specified in part a, is it relevant to conduct a significance test? Explain.