Question: Sociologists Bellas, Ritchey, and Parmer conducted an analysis of the gender gap in faculty salaries. Data consistently indicate how women faculty members earn less than their male counterparts. Differences have been attributed to individual difference, as well as employer and institutional discrimination. For their analysis the sociologists obtained salary data on 158 men and 148 women from a large public research university. In 1985, men were estimated to earn an average of $42,340.62 (S_y = 9,639.19), while women earned $33,865.98 (S_y = 8,298.82).

(a) Use the t test to conduct a one-tailed test of the null hypothesis, \(\alpha =0.05\), comparing male salaries to female salaries. What can you conclude?

(b) Would your conclusions have been different if you had used a two-tailed test?