Medical personnel are required to report suspected cases of child abuse. Because some diseases have symptoms that mimic those of child abuse, doctors who see a child with these symptoms must decide between two competing hypotheses.

H0: symptoms are due to child abuse
Ha: symptoms are due to disease
(Although these are not hypotheses about a population characteristic, this exercise illustrates the definitions of Type I and Type II errors.) An article included the following quote from a doctor in Atlanta regarding the consequences of making an incorrect decision: "If it's disease, the worst you have is an angry family. If it is abuse, the other kids (in the family) are in deadly danger."

(a) For the given hypotheses, describe Type I and Type II errors.

A Type I error is coming to the conclusion that the symptoms are due to ---Select--- child abuse disease when in fact the symptoms are due to ---Select--- child abuse disease .
A Type II error is coming to the conclusion that the symptoms are due to ---Select--- child abuse disease when in fact the symptoms are due to ---Select--- child abuse disease .

(b) Based on the quote regarding consequences of the two kinds of error, which type of error does the doctor quoted consider more serious? Explain.

The doctor considers the presence of ---Select--- child abuse disease more serious than the presence of ---Select--- child abuse disease . Thus, according to the doctor, undetected ---Select--- child abuse disease is more serious than undetected ---Select--- child abuse disease , and a ---Select--- Type I Type II error is the more serious.