In the Preview section for Chapter 17, we discussed a study by Loftus and Palmer (1974) examining how different phrasing of questions can influence eyewitness testimony. In the study, students watched a video of an automobile accident and then were questioned about what they had seen. One group of participants was asked to estimate the speed of the cars when they "smashed into" each other. Another group of was asked to estimate the speed of the cars when they "hit" each other. Suppose that the actual speed of the cars was 22 miles per hour.
a. For the 50 people in the "smashed-into" group, assume that 32 overestimated the actual speed, 17 underestimated the speed, and 1 was exactly right. Is this result significantly different from what would be expected by chance? Use a two-tailed test with α = .05.
b. For the 50 people in the "hit" group, assume that 27 overestimated the actual speed, 22 underestimated the speed, 1 was exactly right. Again, use a two-tailed test with α = .05 to determine whether this result significantly different from what would be expected by chance.