Par, Inc., is a major manufacturer of golf equipment.

Management believes that Par’s market

share could be increased with the introduction of a cut-resistant, longer-lasting golf ball.
Therefore, the research group at Par has been investigating a new golf ball coating designed
to resist cuts and provide a more durable ball. The tests with the coating have been
promising. One of the researchers voiced concern about the effect of the new coating on
driving distances. Par would like the new cut-resistant ball to offer driving distances
comparable to those of the current-model golf ball. To compare the driving distances for the
two balls,40 balls of both the new and current models were subjected to distance tests. The
testing was performed with a mechanical hitting machine so that any difference between the
mean distances for the two models could be attributed to a difference in the two models. The
results of the tests, are in attachment.

1. Formulate and present the rationale for a hypothesis test that Par could use to compare
the driving distances of the current and new golf balls.

Answer: Here the null hypothesis H0: the mean of the current and new golf balls are equal
that is µ1=µ2 where µ1, µ2 are the mean of the current and new golf balls in the population
against the alternative hypothesis H1: the means of the current and new golf balls are not
equal that is µ1µ2. Also the test will be two sample Z test because the sample size is greater
than 30. The test statistics will be Z where s1 and s2 are the sample standard deviation of
current and new golf balls.

Under the null hypothesis the test statistics will be Z

2. Analyze the data to provide the hypothesis testing conclusion. What is the p-value
for your test? What is your recommendation for Par, Inc.?

Answer: The Excel result for the testing under the null hypothesis is below:

z-Test: Two Sample for Means

Current New
Mean 270.325 267.5
Known Variance 76.79 97.95
Observations 40 40
Hypothesized Mean Difference 0
z 1.352
P(Z<=z) one-tail 0.088
z Critical one-tail 1.645
P(Z<=z) two-tail 0.176
z Critical two-tail 1.960

From the above result we see that the P value corresponding to Z =1.352 is 0.176 which is
greater than 0.05 at 5% level of significance therefore we accept the null hypothesis that the
means are equal of current and new golf balls.

The P value for Z=1.352 is 0.176.

The mean difference between the mean distances for the two models could not be attributed
to a difference in the two models.

3. Provide descriptive statistical summaries of the data for each model.

Answer:

The descriptive statistics of the data is as follows:

Variable Current golf balls New golf balls

Mean 270.325 267.5

Standard Error 1.38461672 1.564837994
Median 271 265
Mode 272 263
Standard Deviation 8.757085044 9.896904463
Sample Variance 76.68653846 97.94871795
Kurtosis -0.774703525 -0.514586551
Skewness 0.287915935 0.239810448
Range 34 39
Minimum 255 250
Maximum 289 289
Sum 10813 10700
Count 40 40

From the above result we see that for both the variables the kurtosis is negative therefore
the data distribution is leptokurtic type and skewness is positive for both the variables so the
data distribution is positively skewed. Also the mean, median, standard deviation and range
is given in the table for both the variables.

The histogram of the variables is:

From both the histogram it’s clear that the data distribution is going to follow normal
distribution and positively skewed and leptokurtic.

4. What is the 95% confidence interval for the population mean of each model, and
what is the 95% confidence interval for the difference between the means of the two
populations?

Answer:

The 95% confidence interval for the mean of current is (267.26, 273.39)
The 95% confidence interval for the mean of new golf balls is (264.79, 270.21)

The 95% confidence interval for the difference between the two populations is (-1.34, 6.99)
5. Do you see a need for larger sample sizes and more testing with the golf balls? Discuss.

Answer:

There is no need a large sample size because the mean of current and new golf balls is
equal and there is no need any testing procedure between them.