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have been presented, the researcher is automatically drawn towards the study of
the difficulty which has higher significance for our society.
Study of the Unknown Fields: For research, theory or hypothesis is
unavoidable. They offer appropriate basis. To be able to formulate a hypothesis,
we will need to obtain the related information and through exploratory design
this task is accomplished.
Theoretical Base: The research problem relates to our social life and social
problems and data about the subject could only be gathered through exploratory
design. This design is useful in offering a theoretical base to the hypothesis and
theories.
Presentation of uncertain problem for study in Research: Through
exploratory designs we can easily figure out these problems. This process on
the one hand , focuses the attention of the researcher on the problem and, on the
other, it assists him to gather facts on scientific lines to ensure that research
may be completed correctly.
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Descriptive Research
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Disadvantages of Descriptive Research
Hypothesis testing
Definition
In this lesson, we will talk about what it takes to create a proper hypothesis
test. We define hypothesis test as the formal procedures that statisticians use to
test whether a hypothesis can be accepted or not.
A hypothesisis an assumption about something. For example, a hypothesis
about family pets could be something like the average number of dogs per
American household is two.
Hypothesis testing is about testing to see whether the stated hypothesis is
acceptable or not. During our hypothesis testing, we want to gather as much
data as we can so that we can prove our hypothesis one way or another.
The first step is that of writing the hypothesis. You actually have two
hypotheses to write. One is called the null hypothesis. This is the hypothesis based on
chance. Think of this as the hypothesis that states how you would expect things to
work without any external factors to change it. The other hypothesis is called
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the alternative hypothesis. This is the hypothesis that shows a change from the null
hypothesis that is caused by something.
In hypothesis testing, we just test to see if our data fits our alternative
hypothesis or if it fits the null hypothesis. We don't worry about what is causing our
data to shift from the null hypothesis if it does. Keep in mind, when writing your null
hypothesis and alternative hypothesis, they must be written in such a way so that if the
null hypothesis is false, then the alternative hypothesis is true and vice versa.
What does Sam do here? Sam's null hypothesis is that all meat that is sold to
supermarkets is less than 48 hours old. Sam's alternative hypothesis is that all meat
that is sold to supermarkets is more than 48 hours old. As you can see, if the null
hypothesis is false, then the alternative hypothesis is true.
The second step is to create an analysis plan. This involves deciding how to
read your results to know whether your null hypothesis is true or your alternative
hypothesis is true. Usually, this involves analyzing just one single test statistic.
There are two ways to read your results: P-value method and the region of
acceptance method. The P-value is the probability of observing the desired statistic. If
this P-value is less than the significance level, then the null hypothesis is not valid.
The significance level is the probability of making the mistake of saying that the null
hypothesis is not valid when it actually is true. The region of acceptance is a chosen
range of values that results in the null hypothesis being stated as valid.
For this step, Sam decides to analyze his data using the region of acceptance.
The statistic that Sam decides to use is the number of hours the meat is at that is being
sold to supermarkets. Sam goes to various meat providers and checks to see the age of
the meat that is being sold. He then analyzes this statistic to see how many meat
providers are shipping meats out fewer than 48 hours. The region of acceptance is 99%
or higher. This means that if 99% or more of the meat producers ships out their meat in
time, then the null hypothesis is valid.
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Step Three: Data Analysis
The third step is that of analyzing the data. It is the putting step two into action.
It is in this step that the data is analyzed and either a P-value is found, or the data's
region is found.
It is in this step that Sam checks his data to see how many of his meat producers
are shipping out their meats within 48 hours. Sam looks at his data and sees that 99.9%
of the meat producers are shipping out their meats within 48 hours.
The fourth step involves interpreting the results. It is in this step that the data is
compared to the region of acceptance or the significance level. If the P-value is less
than the significance level, then the null hypothesis is not valid. If the data is within
the region of acceptance, then the null hypothesis is valid.
Sam looks at this data. His data shows that the data's region is at 99.9%. He
compares it to his acceptable 99%. Is 99.9% higher than 99%? It is. This means that
his data is within the region of acceptance. This tells Sam that he can say that the null
hypothesis is valid. Now, he has the data to prove his null hypothesis statement. This is
what he wanted to happen. He wanted to be able to tell people that his meat producers
are shipping out fresh meat that is less than 48 hours old.