Question

Medical researchers are testing a new surgical procedure designed to minimize the side effects of surgery. The null hypothesis is that the procedure is not effective in minimizing side effects. For the researchers, the more consequential error would be that the procedure actually is effective in minimizing the side effects, but the test does not detect the effectiveness of the procedure. Which of the following should the researchers do to avoid the more consequential error?
a. Increase the significance level to increase the probability of a Type I error.
b. Increase the significance level to decrease the probability of a Type I error.
c. Decrease the significance level to increase the probability of a Type I error.
d. Decrease the significance level to decrease the probability of a Type I error.
e. Decrease the significance level to decrease the standard error.

Answer 1

Answer:

B) Increase the significance level to decrease the probability of a Type I error.

Step-by-step explanation:

In order to increase the power, we must increase the significance level. This would decrease the probability of a type 1 error as the question additionally states we have to avoid errors.

Answer 2

Answer:

The correct option is D.

Step-by-step explanation:

The null hypothesis which is the default expectation from the experiment is that the procedure is not going to minimize the side effects.

Type I error refers to the probability that the outcome will reject the null hypothesis even though it is true, which is also a false positive. If the significance level is 10% for example, this says that you are willing to take a 10% probability that the null hypothesis results in a false positive. So even though it is true, it will be regarded as false. Therefore the researchers should decrease the significance level to decrease the probability of a Type I error to avoid more consequantial error.

I hope this answer helps.