Chapter 11, Problem 41CE

Instructions: You may use Excel, MegaStat, Minitab, JMP, or another computer package of your choice. Attach appropriate copies of the output or capture the screens, tables, and relevant graphs and include them in a written report. Try to state your conclusions succinctly in language that would be clear to a decision maker who is a nonstatistician. Exercises marked * are based on optional material. Answer the following questions, or those your instructor assigns.

1. a. Choose an appropriate ANOVA model. State the hypotheses to be tested.
2. b. Display the data visually (e.g., dot plots or line plots by factor). What do the displays show?
3. c. Do the ANOVA calculations using the computer.
4. d. State the decision rule for α = .05 and make the decision. Interpret the p-value.
5. e. In your judgment, are the observed differences in treatment means (if any) large enough to be of practical importance?
6. f. Given the nature of the data, would more data collection be practical?
7. g. Perform Tukey multiple comparison tests and discuss the results.
8. h. Perform a test for homogeneity of variances. Explain fully.

As a volunteer for a consumer research group, LaShonda was assigned to analyze the freshness of three brands of tortilla chips. She examined four randomly chosen bags of chips for four brands of chips from three different stores. She recorded the number of days from the current date until the “fresh until” expiration date printed on the package. Research question: Do mean days until the expiration date differ by brand or store? Note: Some data values are negative.