Advancements in information technology have yielded services that compete against products, with each providing roughly the same benefits to the consumer (e.g., home answering machines and voice-mail services). With the advent of such services, consumers also face different types of pricing schemes. Using a 2 × 2 factorial design, D. Fortin and T. Greenlee of the University of Rhode Island investigated the effects of the type of message retrieval system (answering machine vs. voice-mail service) and the type of pricing (lump sum amount for 5 years of use vs. monthly cost for 5 years of use) on consumers' willingness to buy (Journal of Business Research, Vol. 41, 1998). The first pricing option requires the consumer to do mental arithmetic to determine the total cost of the system; the second provides the true full cost. Thirty subjects were randomly assigned to each of the four treatments. Each was exposed to a purchase situation involving the relevant product or service and payment description and was asked to indicate his or her willingness to buy the item on a 5-point scale (1 = definitely would not buy: 5 = definitely would buy). The results are presented in the incomplete ANOVA table below.
a. Fill in the degrees of freedom (df) column in the ANOVA table.
b. Specify the null and alternative hypotheses that should be used in testing for interaction effects between type of message retrieval system and pricing option.
c. Conduct the test of part b using α = .05. Interpret the results in the context of the problem.
d. Given the results of part c, is it advisable to conduct main effects tests? Why or why not? If so, perform the appropriate main effects tests using α = .05.

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Source df SS MS F Type of message retrieval system Pricing option Type of system × pricing option Error Total 2.001 5019 4986 119