QUESTION #9 (15 marks)

How can engaged couples improve their chances of a happy marriage? A study selected 19 couples and tested the quality of their communication skills 3 months before marriage. Leading up to the marriage, the couples were then asked to participate in a communication skills course aimed at strengthening their skills. Three months after their marriage they were then tested again using the same quality measurement scale (higher scores mean better quality of communication). Since this study was a pilot test of the communication skills course, the researchers were not sure if they intervention would improve their communication skills or not. What conclusion can be made? Test at an alpha at 0.05 and use all the steps of hypothesis testing for full marks.

Table 5. Quality of communication skills before and after a communication skills course.

1 126 115

2 133 125

3 126 96

4 115 115

5 108 119

6 109 82

7 124 93

8 98 109

9 95 72

10 120 104

11 118 107

12 126 118

13 121 102

14 116 115

15 94 83

16 105 87

17 123 121

18 125 100

19 128 118