Tell me more ×
Cross Validated is a question and answer site for statisticians, data analysts, data miners and data visualization experts. It's 100% free, no registration required.

Ten people taste wine A and wine B. Let $X$ denote the number who prefer A. Assume that all the others indicate a preference for B. The people are a random sample.

If $X=10$, and we test the null hypothesis of no difference in preference between the wines (vs. two-sided alternative), the $p$-value is equal to 0.0020.

I don't get how one comes to the conclusion that the p-value is 0.0020. Are you supposed to use the one sample test for proportion?

share|improve this question
1  
Almost certainly, though it could also be done with a chi-square test. – Glen_b Dec 9 '12 at 8:15

1 Answer

Yes, you use a classical test for proportion. You can use the exact binomial distribution. There are only two values as extreme as $x = 10$, this is $x = 0$ or $10$. Thus

$$\def\P{\mathbb P} \begin{aligned} p &= \P( X = 0 \text{ or } X = 10)\\ &= \P(X = 0) + \P(X = 10)\\ &= 2\times \P(X = 0)\\ &= 2 \times {10 \choose 0} \times \left(1 \over 2\right)^{10}\\ &= 2 \times 1 \times {1\over 2^{10}}\\ &= {1\over 512}\\ &= 0.0019 \end{aligned}$$

share|improve this answer
How do I express this in the normal distribution probability using the z-score? I find that it's easier for me. – Sue Dec 9 '12 at 22:58
@Sue, is this homework? – Elvis Dec 9 '12 at 23:19
I see that this is now tagged as homework. Here are a few first hints: what is the distribution of $X$? Its mean? Its variance? You can approximate the distribution of $X$ by a normal distribution: why (criteria), and which one? – Elvis Dec 10 '12 at 9:17

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.