HYPOTHESIS TESTING

Hypothesis testing is a decision making process for evaluating claims about

a population .In hypothesis testing the researcher must define the population
under study ,state the particular hypotheses that will be investigated ,give
the significance level ,select a sample from the population, collect the data,
perform the calculations required for statistical test and reach a conclusion.

STEPS IN HYPOTHESIS TESTING

Every hypothesis testing situation begins with the statement of a hypothesis.

A STATISTICAL HYPOTHESIS is a conjecture about a population

parameter .This conjecture may or may not be true.

There are two types of statistical hypotheses for each situation: the NULL
HYPOTHESIS and the ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS.

The null hypothesis symbolized by H is a statistical hypothesis that states

that there is no difference between a parameter and a specific value or that
there is no difference between two parameters. Its just the hypothesis were
trying to test.
The alternative hypothesis symbolized by H is a statistical hypothesis that
states the existence of a difference between a parameter and a specific value or
states that there is a difference between two parameters.

Hypothesis testing is the counterintuitive . The logic is that it seems backward.

We try to disprove the Null Hypothesis. We try to disprove that nothing
happened. If we disprove that nothing happened, then we conclude that
SOMETHING HAPPENED

A statistical test uses the data obtained from a sample to make a decision
about whether the null hypothesis should be rejected.

A type I error occurs if one rejects the null hypothesis when it is true.

A type II error occurs if one does not reject the null hypothesis when it is false.

The level of significance is the maximum probability of committing a type I

error. This probability is symbolized by .That is P(type I error )=
Power
Power is an easy idea in the statistical world. You want to correctly reject
a false Null Hypothesis. Power is the probability of correctly rejecting
a false Null Hypothesis. It means the chance of finding what you are
looking for!

Ho True Ho False
Reject the Null Hypothesis Ho Type I error Correct decision

(1- )

Do not reject the Null Correct decision Type II error

Hypothesis Ho
(1- )
The probability of type II error is symbolized by .That is P(type II
error)=
Statisticians generally agree on using three arbitrary significance levels:
the 0.01,0.05 and 0.10levels.That is if the null hypothesis is rejected the
probability of a type I will be 10,5 and 1%.Thus when =0.10 there is 10
% chance of rejecting a true null hypothesis.

The Critical value separates the critical region from the non critical
region

The Critical or rejection region is the range of values of the test value
that indicates that there is a significant difference and that the null
hypothesis should be rejected..

The noncritical or non rejection region is the range of values of the

test value that indicates that the difference was probably due to chance
and that the null hypothesis should not be rejected.
A one tailed test indicates that the null hypothesis should be rejected when
the test value is in the critical region on one side of the mean. A one tailed
test is either a right tailed or left tailed test, depending on the direction of
the inequality of the alternative hypothesis.

Left tailed

H: k
H : < K
Non Critical
Region

Critical region
0
Right tailed

H:K
H :> K

Non critical
Region

Rejection or critical region

Two tailed

H:=K
H: K

Critical region Non critical region Critical region

Rejection region rejection region
Finding the critical value for specific values

STEP 1 Draw the curve and identify the appropriate area.

If the test is left tailed the critical region with an area equal to will
be on the left side of the mean.
If the test is right tailed the critical region with an area equal to
will be on the right side of the mean.
If the test is two tailed must be divided by 2 .One half of the area
will be to the right of the mean and one half to the left of the mean.

STEP 2 For a one tailed test subtract the area in the critical region from
0.5 if the area under standard normal distribution curve is from 0 to
any Z otherwise from 1.
STEP 3 Find the area in standard normal distribution corresponding
to value obtained in step 2 .If the exact value cannot be found we can
use the closest value.

STEP 4 Find the Z value that corresponds to the area .This will be the
critical value.

STEP 5 Determine the sign of the critical value for a one tailed test.
a. If the test is left tailed the critical value will be negative.
b. If the test is right tailed the critical value will be positive

For a two tailed test one value will be positive and the other negative.
Z test for a Mean
Hypothesis can be tested using a statistical test based on the following general
Formula:

Test value =observerd - expected value

Standard error

The observed value is the statistic (such as the mean) is computed from the sample
Data.The expected value is the parameter (such as the mean) that one would
expect to obtain if the null hypothesis is true(the hypothesised value).
The denominator is the standard error of the statistic being tested.

The Z test is a statistical test for the mean of the population .It can be used when
n30 or when the population is normally distributed and is known .

Z= X -
/n
Where X=sample mean
= hypothesised population mean
= population standard deviation
n= sample size
PROCEDURES FOR HYPOTHESIS TESTING

1. State the hypothesis

2. Find the critical values
3. Compute the test value
4. Make the decision to reject or not reject the null hypothesis
5. Summarize the results.

t test for a mean

When the population standard deviation is unknown and the sample size is less
Than 30 the z test is inappropriate for testing hypothesis involving means.The
test is used when n<30 when unknown and the distribution of the variable
Is approximately normal.

The formula for t test is

t=X
s/n with df=n-1