Research Methodology

Unit III

Prepared and Presented By:

Dr. Shuchi Goel
DME Management School
Syllabus
3.11 Hypothesis Testing-
Tests concerning means
and proportions
 TEXT

Author: Deepak Chawla and Neena Sondhi

Title of the Book: Research Methodology: Concepts and Cases
Chapter’s Name: Testing of Hypotheses
 REFERENCE

Author: Donald R. Cooper & Pamela S. Schindler

Title of the Book: Business Research Methods
Chapter’s Name: Hypothesis Testing
 3.11 Hypothesis Testing-Tests concerning means and proportions

• A probability distribution is a mathematical function that provides the

probabilities of occurrence of different possible outcomes in an experiment.

For example:
Consider the tossing of a six-faced die. When a balanced die is tossed, we may get any
of the six digits with equal probability:
Outcome (x) Probability (p)
1 1/6
2 1/6
3 1/6
4 1/6
5 1/6
6 1/6
Total 1
• A distribution that holds a very significant place in statistical theory is the Normal
Distribution.
• A variable x has normal distribution if its curve, as shown in figure 1, is given by
the following equation:
y(x) = 1 e –(x-µ)2 / 2σ2
√2Πσ2

Where e and Π are mathematical constants,

µ = mean value
σ = standard deviation
x = a particular value of a random variable, and -∞ < x < +∞
and y(x) = height of the normal curve at x.
Figure 1: Normal Distribution

µ
Properties of Normal Curve:
• It is a uni-modal, bell-shaped and symmetrical curve.
• The normal curve is asymptotic to the x-axis so that it approaches the horizontal
axis on both ends, but never touches it.
• A normal distribution is defined by two parameters- its mean, µ and standard
deviation, σ. Corresponding to every pair of these measures, a distinct normal
curve exists.
• A normal curve being symmetrical about µ, it follows that the area under it to the
left of µ is equal to the area under it to the right of µ. Also, for every normal
curve, µ + 1σ covers about 68% of the area under the curve; µ + 2σ covers about
95 % of it; while µ+ 3σ covers about 99.7% area.
Standard Normal Distribution:
• Each pair of µ and σ results in a distinct normal distribution.
• The normal distribution with µ= 0 and σ = 1 is called the standard normal
distribution.
• In fact, it is possible to convert any normal random variable into a standardised
normal variable z. This is called z transformation.
• The transformation from x to z is done by the following formula:
z = x- µ
σ
Thus, the z value is equal to the difference between x and population mean divided
by the populations standard deviation.
• On the original distribution the point 8 is one standard deviation
below the mean of 10 and it translates to:
Z = 8-10/2 = -1
• On the original distribution the point 12 is one standard deviation above
the mean of 10 and it translates to:
z = 12-10/2 = 1
Example:
• For example, if we have a normally distributed random variable with a mean of 10
and a standard deviation of 2, we may want to know what is the probability of
getting a value of 8 or less.
• This is equal to the highlighted area under the probability distribution. For this
particular distribution , it is a complicated mathematical operation to calculate the
area under the curve. So, it is easier to use the Z transformation.