Improving productivity A packing company considers hiring a national training consultant in hopes of improving productivity on the packing line. The national consultant agrees to work with 18 employees for one week as part of a trial before the packing company makes a decision about the training program. The training program will be implemented if the average product packed increases by more than 10 cases per day per employee. The packing company manager will test a hypothesis using α = 0.05.
a. Write appropriate hypotheses (in words and in symbols).
b. In this context, which do you consider to be more serious - a Type I or a Type II error? Explain briefly.
c. After this trial produced inconclusive results the manager decided to test the training program again with another group of employees. Describe two changes he could make in the trial to increase the power of the test, and explain the disadvantages of each.
Discipline-specific training can take years to perfect.
Productivity in Selected Industries in the Early 1990s
Elephant (Loxodonta africana) herd drinking at water hole. Etosha National Park, Namibia.