Question

Horatio has developed a new test for ADHD. He is trying out his new test on about 500 children, half of whom have already been diagnosed with an established clinical measure. The results of his new test say only 100 of the children have ADHD and the rest do not. In this case, the new test has missed identifying 150 children who really did have ADHD. This example illustrates making a(n) ______ error during hypothesis testing.

Answer 1

Answer: Type 1 error

Explanation: Type 1 error exists when a researcher incorrectly rejects the null hypothesis. This means wrongly rejecting what is correct. This is different from. The type 2 error where the null hypothesis which is wrong is incorrectly accepted.

In the scenario above, it has already been established that half of the 500 children did have ADHD, However, result of the test says only 100 of the children have ADHD, thereby incorrectly identifying 150 children who actually did have ADHD has been free of ADHD. Thereby rejecting the null or established result.