A pharmaceutical company tests whether a drug lifts the head

A pharmaceutical company tests whether a drug lifts the headache relief rate from the 29% achieved by the placebo. They fail to reject the null hypothesis because the P-calue is 0.465. Further testing shows that the drug actually relieves headaches in 42% of people.

Choose the correct answer below:

A- No error has been made because the actual values is close to 29%

B- A Type II error has been made because the null hypothesis was not rejected, but it was false since the true relief rate was greater than 29%

C- A Type I error has been made because the null hypothesis was not rejected, but it was false since the true relief rate was greater than 29%

Solution

So, from the first study, they failed to reject Ho (that the rate is greater than 29%), when they actually should have.

Thus, that is a Type II error, failing to reject a false null hypothesis.

OPTION B: B- A Type II error has been made because the null hypothesis was not rejected, but it was false since the true relief rate was greater than 29%. [ANSWER, B]