Two professors wanted to study how students from their two universities compared in their capabilities of using Excel spreadsheets in undergraduate information systems courses. (Data extracted from H. Howe and M. G. Simkin, "Factors Affecting the Ability to Detect Spreadsheet Errors," Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, January 2006, pp. 101-122.) A comparison of the student demographics was also performed. One school is a state university in the western United States, and the other school is a state

university in the eastern United States. The following table contains information regarding the ages of the students:
a. Using a 0.01 level of significance, is there evidence of a difference in the variances of the age of students at the western school and at the eastern school?
b. Discuss the practical implications of the test performed in (a). Address, specifically, the impact equal (or unequal) variances in age has on teaching an undergraduate information systems course.
c. To test for a difference in the mean age of students, is it most appropriate to use the pooled-variance t test or the separate-variance t test?

The following table contains information regarding the years of spreadsheet usage of the students:
d. Using a 0.01 level of significance, is there evidence of a difference in the variances of the years of spreadsheet usage of students at the western school and at the eastern school?
e. Based on the results of (d), use the most appropriate test to determine, at the 0.01 level of significance, whether there is evidence of a difference in the mean years of spreadsheet usage of students at the western school and at the eastern school.

Sample Size 93 135 Standard Deviation 6.29 1.32 School Mean Western Eastern 23.28 21.16 Sample Size 93 135 Standard Deviation 2.4 2.1 Mean School Western Eastern 2.6 4.0