Hypothesis Test – Online College Mean Age
Miriam M. Martin, Raymond Nearey,
Maria-Lydia Lugo, Lucinda Reza
PSY/315
February 23, 2013

The University of Phoenix has a significant student base and its average age, or the age mean of its enrollees, is 38 years old (Hedding, 2013). This statistic raised question as to whether it is standard that the average enrolled student in online college education is of an age greater than the usual 18-21 year old college student. This hypothesis, if the null hypothesis is rejected, would show in essence that the University as a whole is matriculated with an older student population and thus the convenience of online education for adults greater than standard college age proves to be a more convenient, attractive and efficient alternative than actually attending a college campus.
Hypothesis
Based upon this hypothesis question, Learning Team B arrived at the null hypothesis that if tested using a one sample T-test, Group One, or Ho, being the specific classroom’s age statistic and Group Two, or H1, representing the mean age of the University’s attendees in total, will either show that the following a) Group One—our classroom’s mean age is less than or equal to Group Two-University of Phoenix’s mean age of attendee, or; b) Group One’s mean age will be greater than the mean of age of Group Two.
Stated scientifically or numerically, Ho: Group one</=Group two; H1: Group one > Group Two.
Five Step Data Process To reiterate the five step process of T-tests as applicable to the specific hypothesis test above, the first step, or restating the question as a research hypothesis is set forth above. The second step in the process is to determine the population mean. To do this, the classroom of PSY/315 was surveyed via forum post and asked for their age and gender. While not all of the students