An education researcher would like to test whether 2nd graders retain or lose knowledge during the summer when they are presumably not in school. She asks nine 2nd graders to take a comprehension exam at the end of the school year (May), and then asks those same students to come back after the summer (late August) to retake a different but equivalent exam, to see if their level of comprehension has changed. Using the data below, test this hypothesis using an alpha level of .05. May August
90 100
65 80
78 92
50 60
89 90
92 98
75 70
90 96
65 87
a) What is the appropriate test? Is it a one or two tailed test?
b) State the null hypothesis (in words and using means).
c) State the alternative hypothesis (in words and using means).
d) Find the critical value.
e) Calculate the obtained value by hand. What does your decision mean?