Question: A radon exposure study. Scientists believe that exposure to the radioactive gas radon is associated with some types of cancers in the respiratory system. Radon from natural sources is present in many homes in the United States. A group of researchers decided to study the problem in dogs because dogs get similar types of cancers and are exposed to environments similar to those of their owners. Radon detectors are available for home monitoring, but the researchers wanted to obtain actual measures of the exposure of a sample of dogs. To do this, they placed the detectors in holders and attached them to the collars of the dogs. One problem was that the holders might in some way affect the radon readings. The researchers therefore devised a laboratory experiment to study the effects of the holders. Detectors from four series of production were available, so they used a two-way ANOVA design (series with 4 levels and holder with 2, representing the presence or absence of a holder). All detectors were exposed to the same radon source, and the radon measure in picocuries per liter was recorded.19 The F statistic for the effect of series is 7.02, for the holder it is 1.96, for the interaction it is 1.24, and N = 69.
(a) Using Table E or statistical software, find approximate P-values for the three test statistics. Summarize the results of these three significance tests
(b) The mean radon readings for the four series were 330, 303, 302, and 295. The results of the significance test for series were of great concern to the researchers. Explain why.