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 22 traditional paper-coupon clippers had a mean age of 31.9 with a standard deviation of 9.0. The sample of 35 e-coupon users had a mean age of 43.0 years with a standard deviation of 4.5. Assume the population standard deviations are not the same.
Using a significance level of 0.100, 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. Find the degrees of freedom for unequal variance test. (Round down answer to nearest whole number.)
Degrees of freedom__________
b. State the decision rule for 0.100 significance level: H0: μe-coupon = μtraditional ; H1: μe-coupon ≠ μtraditional. (Negative amounts should be indicated by a minus sign. Round your answers to 3 decimal places.)
Reject H0 if t <______or t >_______
c. Compute the value of the test statistic. (Negative amount should be indicated by a minus sign. Round your answer to 2 decimal places.)
Value of the test statistic___________