"Sources of Individual Shy-Bold Variations in Antipredator Behaviour of Male Iberian Rock Lizards," published online in Animal Behavior in 2005, considered behavior of lizards under controlled low-risk and highrisk situations.
a. Lizards were subjected to "low-risk" treatment (the experimenter walked slowly alongside the terrarium) and to "high-risk" treatment (the experimenter approached the terrarium rapidly and tapped the lizard's tail with a brush). A comparison was made of mean activity scores using repeated measures ANOVA, and the test statistic, which under the null hypothesis of no difference in activity between low- and high-risk treatments, follows an F distribution with 1 degree of freedom in the numerator and 33 in the denominator, was found to be 48.25.32 Use the fact that the area under this curve to the right of 4 is approximately 0.05 to decide whether the P-value is quite large (close to 1), somewhat large, borderline, somewhat small, or quite small (close to 0).
b. Based on the size of the P-value, do the researchers have evidence that being subjected to low- or high-risk treatment has an effect on the lizards' rate of activity?
c. A comparison was also made of mean frequency of lizards leaning out of their refuge when subjected to low versus high risk treatments. The F statistic, which again has degrees of freedom 1 and 33, was found to be 0.03. Use the display of this F curve (shown in part [a]) to decide whether the P-value is quite large (close to 1), somewhat large, borderline, somewhat small, or quite small (close to 0).
d. Based on the size of the P-value, do the researchers have evidence that being subjected to low- or high-risk treatment has an effect on the lizards' frequency of leaning out of their refuge?