A researcher wants to conduct a study to test whether listening to soothing music for 20 minutes helps to reduce diastolic blood pressure in patients with high blood pressure, compared to simply sitting quietly in a noise-free
environment for 20 minutes. One hundred patients with high blood pressure at a large medical clinic are
available to participate in this study.
(a) Propose a design for this study to compare these two treatments.
(b) The null hypothesis for this study is that there is no difference in the mean reduction of diastolic blood
pressure for the two treatments and the alternative hypothesis is that the mean reduction in diastolic blood
pressure is greater for the music treatment. If the null hypothesis is rejected, the clinic will offer this music
therapy as a free service to their patients with high blood pressure. Describe Type I and Type II errors and
the consequences of each in the context of this study, and discuss which one you think is more serious.