Question

Can choosing the right music make wine taste better? This question was investigated by a researcher at a university in Edinburgh (www.decanter.com/news). Each of 250 volunteers was assigned at random to one of five rooms where they tasted and rated a glass of wine. No music was playing in one of the rooms, and a different style of music was playing in each of the other four rooms. The mean rating given to the wine under each of the five music conditions was reported. Is the described inference one that resulted from estimation or one that resulted from hypothesis testing?

Short answer

The described inference is a result from hypothesis testing.

Step-by-step solution

Understand the nature of the study

Consider the study conducted by the researcher. The researcher did an experiment where different styles of music were played in different rooms and volunteers rated a glass of wine. The researcher was trying to understand the effect of different music conditions on the wine rating.

Determine whether it was an estimation or hypothesis testing

Given the nature of the study, it doesn't seem like the researcher was aiming at approximating a population parameter (estimation). Instead, they appear to be testing a claim - that is, whether or not different music can affect wine tasting (hypothesis testing)