Businesses such as General Mills, Kellogg's, and Betty Crocker regularly use coupons to build brand allegiance and stimulate sales. Marketers believe that the users of paper coupons are different from the users of e-coupons accessed through the Internet. One survey recorded the age of each person who redeemed a coupon along with the type of coupon (either paper or electronic). The sample of 20 traditional paper-coupon clippers had a mean age of 42.4 with a standard deviation of 7.1. The sample of 35 e-coupon users had a mean age of 34.9 years with a standard deviation of 8.7. Assume the population standard deviations are not the same. Using a significance level of 0.10, test the hypothesis of no difference in the mean ages of the two groups of coupon clients. Hint: For the calculations, assume e-coupon as the first sample.
a. What are the null and alternate hypotheses?
H0: μe-coupon = μtraditional
H1: μe-coupon ≠ μtraditional
b. Compute the test statistic. (Negative values should be indicated by a minus sign. Round your answers to 2 decimal places.)
c. Compute the p-value. (Round your answer to 4 decimal places.)
d. What is your decision regarding the null hypothesis?
Reject the H0
Fail to reject the H0
e. Interpret the result.
