Suppose we wanted to test the hypothesis that a control group of cancer patients (Group 1) would report higher mean pain ratings than an experimental group receiving special massage treatments (Group 2). Use the following information: mean group 1 = 78.5, s1 = 42.1, n1 = 25, mean group 2 = 72.1, s2 = 39.7, n2 = 25.
a. Compute a t-test for independent groups: [5 points]
b. Using α = 0.05 for a one-tailed test, is the t statistic significant? [5 points]
c. Write one or two sentences (in plain English/non-statistical terms) that could be used to report the results obtained for the t-test. [8 points]