TEST OF

HYPOTHESIS
The learner will be able to:

1. Illustrate:
a. Null hypothesis
b. Alternative hypothesis
c. Level of significance
d. Rejection region; and
e. Types of error in hypothesis testing
2. Calculate the probabilities of commanding a Type I and
Type II error.
 The first thing the researcher should do is to choose a topic for his research.
Next is to formulate the statement of the problem. Then he/she should
enumerate the research questions and identify the target population. Another
important thing a researcher should do is to make assumptions about the
population.
The assumptions which may or may not be true are called statistical
hypotheses.
Statistical Hypotheses

 Null hypothesis
The null hypothesis, denoted by 𝐻𝑜 , is a statement saying that there is no
significant difference between population parameter and the value that is
being claimed. It is the hypothesis to be tested.

 Alternative hypothesis

The alternative hypothesis, denoted by 𝐻𝑎 , is a statement saying that there is a

significant difference between the population parameter and the value that is
being claimed. This is a statement that will be true once the null hypothesis is
rejected.
Example 1

The head of the P.E. Department of Thompson Christian School claims that the
mean height of Grade 7 students is 163 cm. The mean height of 45 randomly
selected Grade 7 students is 161 cm. Using 0.01 significance level, can it be
concluded that the mean height of Grade 7 students is different from 163 cm as
claimed by the Head of the P.E. Department? State the null and alternative
hypotheses.

𝐻𝑜 : 𝜇 = 163
𝐻𝑎 : 𝜇 ≠ 163
Example 2

Last year the mean number of ladies’ bags produced by GB Company was 2,500
each day. This year, the manager claims that there is an increase in number of
bags produced. A researcher who wants to find out whether this is true counted
the number of bags produced each day for a period of one month. His
computation resulted to a mean of 2,515 ladies’ bags. At 0.05 significance level,
is there enough evidence to conclude that the mean number of ladies’ bags
produced by GB Company is greater than 2,500? State the null hypothesis and
alternative hypothesis.

𝐻𝑜 : 𝜇 = 2,500
𝐻𝑎 : 𝜇 > 2,500
Example 3

 The manager of a TV Station claims that the mean number of people watching
their new sitcom in Manila is 500,000 each day. A student researcher who
wants statistical evidence on this claim conducted her own survey. Her survey
resulted to a mean of 499,995. Using a 0.05 significance level, can it be
concluded that the mean number of people watching the new sitcom is less
than 500,000? The following are the null and the alternative hypotheses.

𝐻𝑜 : 𝜇 = 500,000
𝐻𝑎 : 𝜇 < 500,000
Example 4

 The LB Company produces an average of 4% defective bulbs each day.

Recently, some of the machines were upgraded. Out of the 400 bulbs
randomly selected only 14 bulbs were found defective. Does this suggest that
there is a decrease in the number of defective bulbs produced each day? Use
0.05 significance level. The following are the null and the alternative
hypotheses.

𝐻𝑜 : 𝜇 = 0.04
𝐻𝑎 : 𝜇 < 0.04
 In each of the given examples, the null hypotheses is assumed to be true.

 For instance, in Example 1, the null hypotheses is assumed to be true, that is

the mean height of the Grade 7 students is 163. If the researcher can gather
enough evidence that can result to the rejection of the null hypothesis then
he/she can conclude that the mean height of the Grade 7 students is not
equal to 163 cm.
 Rejection Region,
Critical Value and Level
of Significance
 The researcher needs to convert the sample mean to a value called test
statistic, which is the basis to make a decision and draw a conclusion.

 If the test statistic or computed value falls in the rejection region, that is, it
falls beyond the critical point, then the null hypothesis is rejected.

 The most commonly used values for alpha are 0.01, 0.05, and 0.10.
 If the level of significance used in Example 2 is 5% or 0.05, then there is a 5%
chance or 5 chances in 100 that the null hypothesis would be rejected when it
should be accepted. That is whenever the null hypothesis is true, the
researcher is 95% confident that he/she would make the correct decision.

 The level of significance is the probability that the test statistic would fall in
the rejection region when in fact the null hypothesis is actually true.
Types of Errors
1. Type I error

 A Type I error is committed when the researcher rejects a null hypothesis

when in fact it is true. The probability of committing Type I error is also
called the level of significance.
 For a 90% confidence level, the level of significance or the value of alpha is
0.1. This means that there is a 10% probability that the researcher will reject
a true null hypothesis. For a 99% confidence level, the level of significance is
0.01. This means that there is a 1% probability that the researcher will reject
null hypothesis that is true. But if the researcher rejects null hypothesis that
is false, then he has reached a correct decision. Alpha 𝛼 is used to represent
the probability of a Type I error.
2. Type II error
 A Type II error is committed when the researcher fails to reject a null
hypothesis that is false. But if the researcher fails to reject a true hypothesis,
then, there is no error committed. Beta 𝛽 is used to represent the probability
of a Type II error.

True State of Nature

Decision
The null hypothesis is The null hypothesis is
true false

Reject the null Type I error Correct decision

hypothesis 𝐻𝑜

Do not reject the null Correct decision Type II error

hypothesis 𝐻𝑜