Suppose that you read a study in which 5,000 male workers and 5,000 female workers are asked about the number of days of work they missed last year. Imagine that males miss an average of 7.2 days and females miss an average of 7.3 days, and the difference is statistically significant. What would be an important criticism of this study?
a. Statistical significance is not important when we are considering such large sample sizes.
b. The difference probably has no practical significance.
c. The sample was probably not large enough.
d. The study was probably very carefully conducted, because those two means are so similar.
Question 2
Suppose that you are reading a newspaper article claiming that men and women differ significantly on a new test of creativity. As you read more closely, you realize that the males' average was 101, one point higher than the females' average of 100 . What would you conclude?
a. The results probably did not really reach statistical significance.
b. The results probably have little practical significance.
c. The study probably tested a small number of males and females.
d. The results can be generalized to people living in other geographic regions.
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