Chapter 9.1, Problem 19BSC

Testing Claims About Proportions. In Exercises 7–22, test the given claim. Identify the null hypothesis, alternative hypothesis, test statistic, P-value or critical value(s), then state the conclusion about the null hypothesis, as well as the final conclusion that addresses the original claim.

19. Headache Treatment In a study of treatments for very painful “cluster” headaches, 150 patients were treated with oxygen and 148 other patients were given a placebo consisting of ordinary air. Among the 150 patients in the oxygen treatment group, 116 were free from headaches 15 minutes after treatment. Among the 148 patients given the placebo, 29 were free from headaches 15 minutes after treatment (based on data from “High-Flow Oxygen for Treatment of Cluster Headache” by Cohen, Bums, and Goadsby, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 302, No. 22). We want to use a 0.01 significance level to test the claim that the oxygen treatment is effective.

a. Test the claim using a hypothesis test.

b. Test the claim by constructing an appropriate confidence interval.

c. Based on the results, is the oxygen treatment effective?