## the p-value is:

• ### e

• Total voters
2

#### cj2061

##### New Member
"We report the results of a statistical test (alpha=.05, two-tailed) & provide an observed p-value: t(39)=2.343, p = .024. the p-value is:
a) alpha
b) the area in the two tails beyond the critical value
c) the rejection region
d) the area in the upper tail of the null distribution beyond 2.343
e) the area in the tails of the null distribution beyond +2.343 and -2.343"

I have narrowed it down as much as i could, but i am torn between b) and e), slightly leaning towards b)...but i could be very, very wrong! And if one is right, I don't quite understand why the other one would be wrong. I get that the p-value is compared to the significance level (in this case, .05) and since it is smaller than .05, we would then reject the null hypothesis. I also understand that the answer is not d) because that answer is written in terms of a one-sided test, and it's not a) because the p-value is not the equivalent of making a Type I Error. I am still unsure about e), but i am thinking that it might not be the answer considering the p-value is in terms of comparing it with the significance level, not comparing it to the observed t value. hopefully i am making some sense here.

Any help would be greatly appreciated...especially with explaining to me what the difference is between option b) and option e)...I'm really stuck here! Thanks

Last edited:

#### BioStatMatt

##### TS Contributor
b ) "The area in the tails of the null distribution beyond the critical region"

this quantity is defined by alpha = 0.05 for this example. The correct choice is e)

~Matt