Absorption rates into the body are important considerations when manufacturing a generic version of a brand-name drug. A pharmacist read that the absorption rate into the body of a new generic drug (G) is the same as its brand-name counterpart (B). She has a researcher friend of hers run a small experiment to test Which of the following would be a Type I error?

A. Deciding that the absorption rates are the same, when in fact they are.

B. Deciding that the absorption rates are different, when in fact they are.

C. Deciding that the absorption rates are the same, when in fact they are not.

D. Deciding that the absorption rates are different, when in fact they are not.

E. The researcher cannot make a Type I error, since he has run an experiment.

Correct option: (D).

Step-by-step explanation:

A null hypothesis is a hypothesis of no difference. It is symbolized by H₀.

A Type I error is the probability of rejection of the null hypothesis of a test when indeed the the null hypothesis is true.

The type I error is also known as the significance level of the test.

It is symbolized by P (type I error) = α.

In this case the researcher wants to determine whether the absorption rate into the body of a new generic drug (G) is the same as its brand-name counterpart (B) or not.

The hypothesis for this test can be defined as:

H₀: The absorption rate into the body of a new generic drug and its brand-name counterpart is same.

Hₐ: The absorption rate into the body of a new generic drug and its brand-name counterpart is not same.

The type I error will be committed when the null hypothesis is rejected when in fact it is true.

That is, a type I error will be made when the the results conclude that the absorption rate into the body for both the drugs is not same, when in fact the absorption rate is same for both.

Thus, the correct option is (D).