Take Home: Body Temps. When you are sick and take your temperature, you probably compare your temperature to so-called “normal” temperature, 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This standard was developed in the...

Take Home: Body Temps.


When you are sick and take your temperature, you probably compare your temperature to so-called “normal” temperature, 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This standard was developed in the late 1860’s, but some researchers suspect that this standard is outdated. To test this hypothesis, researchers collected a random sample of 10 healthy adult people and recorded their body temperature, in degrees Fahrenheit. Here are the results:

97.8 98.0 98.2 98.2 98.6 98.6 98.8 98.8 99.2 99.4

1. With statistical justification, make a decision on whether “normal” healthy body temperature is different from the standard of 98.6 degrees. Show all steps.

2. a. Explain what a type II error means in this situation, AND a potential consequence of such an error.

b. Suppose that researchers want to test the same hypothesis in part 1 in a future study. Explain how one might improve the POWER of the test from the one done in part 1. Don’t merely suggest a solution: explain why it will work.