Question: Lester Hollar is vice president for human resources for a large manufacturing company. In recent years, he has noticed an increase in absenteeism that he thinks is related to the general health of the employees. Four years ago, in an attempt to improve the situation, he began a fitness program in which employees exercise during their lunch hour. To evaluate the program, he selected a random sample of eight participants and found the number of days each was absent in the six months before the exercise program began and in the last six months. Below are the results.

Employee Before After

1 7      4      

2 6      4      

3 7      3      

4 5      2      

5 4      2     

6 5      6      

7 6      3     

8 5      7       

Click here for the Excel Data File

At the 0.01 significance level, can he conclude that the number of absences has declined? Hint: For the calculations, assume the "Before" data as the first sample.

Reject H₀ if t > . (Round your answer to 3 decimal places.)

The test statistic is . (Round your answer to 3 decimal places.)

The p-value is (Click to select)

between 0.025 and 0.05

between 0.0005 and 0.001

between 0.005 and 0.05

Decision: (Click to select)

Do not reject

Reject

H₀.