Rudeness and its effect on onlookers. Many believe that an uncivil environment has a negative effect on people. A pair of researchers performed a series of experiments to test whether witnessing rudeness and disrespect affects task performance.
In one study, 34 participants met in small groups and witnessed the group organizer being rude to a "participant" who showed up late for the group meeting.
After the exchange, each participant performed an individual brainstorming task in which he or she was asked to produce as many uses for a brick as possible in 5 minutes. The mean number of uses was 7.88 with a standard deviation of 2.35.
(a) Suppose that prior research has shown that the average number of uses a person can produce in 5 minutes under normal conditions is 10. Given that the researchers hypothesize that witnessing this rudeness will decrease performance, state the appropriate null and alternative hypotheses.
(b) Carry out the significance test using a significance level of 0.05. Give the P-value and state your conclusion.