For the research described in Case Study 6.2, the goal was to find out if eating breakfast cereal was associated with a reduction in body mass index ( BMI) for children (Frantzen et al., 2013). Although the analysis used by the researchers was somewhat complicated, for simplicity in this exercise, suppose the measure of interest was the difference between populations means BMI for children who eat cereal and children who don’t.
a. Write the null and alternative hypotheses for this situation.
b. Describe what a type 1 error would be in this situation.
c. Describe what a type 2 error would be in this situation.
d. Which type of error do you think is more serious in this situation? (There is no correct answer; it is your reasoning that counts.)