A pharmaceutical company claims their new drug lowers cholesterol more effectively than the existing standard drug. The appropriate alternative hypothesis for testing this claim is:

• A One-tailed: the new drug lowers cholesterol more than the standard drug ✓
• B Two-tailed: the new drug has a different effect from the standard drug
• C Two-tailed: there is no difference between the two drugs
• D One-tailed: the new drug lowers cholesterol less than the standard drug

Explanation

When the research hypothesis specifies a direction (the new drug is MORE effective), a one-tailed test is appropriate. The alternative hypothesis should reflect this directional claim. B two-tailed test is used when only a difference, not its direction, is hypothesized. The null hypothesis states no difference, not the alternative.

Reference: B K Mahajan's Methods in Biostatistics, 7th ed.

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