Lecture 3

Hypothesis Testing
Lesson Objectives
Explain the difference between null
and alternative hypothesis and
their use in research;
Differentiate between Type I and
Type II errors
Explain when the two-tailed and
one-tailed test is used.
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a tentative statement that
explains a particular phenomenon which
is testable
A hypothesis consists of
 Two or more variables that are measurable
 An independent and dependent variable
 A relationship between two or more variables
 A possible prediction
Hypothesis
NULL hypothesis
“NULL“ means nothing or zero
NULL hypothesis states that “nothing happened”
NULL hypothesis is denoted with the symbol "H o:“
NULL hypothesis is often the reverse of what the
researcher actually believes in and it is put forward
to allow the data to contradict it
Alternate Hypothesis
Alternative Hypothesis ( 1 H ) is the
opposite of Null Hypothesis
Ha: μ¹ ≠ μ²
Ha: μ¹ > μ²
Ha: μ¹ < μ²
Exercise
Write down a NULL hypothesis and
an alternate hypothesis for an
educational research
Type I and Type II Error
In hypothesis testing
 You can claim that the two means are not equal in the population when
in fact they are
 Or you can say that there is a difference when there is really no
difference

Type 1 Error:
 Claiming that two means are different when in fact they are equal. In
other words, you reject a null hypothesis when it is TRUE.
Type 2 Error:
 Claiming that there are no differences between two means when in fact
there is a difference. In other words, you accept a null hypothesis when
it is FALSE.
 Type I and Type II Error
FALSE TRUE
Do Not Reject Correct Risk
Ho : Decision committing
[Say it is [no Type 2
TRUE] problem] Error
Reject Ho: Risk Correct
[Say it is committing Decision
FALSE] Type 1 Error [no
problem]
 10 12/04/2014

Alpha vs. Beta

a is the probability of Type I error

b is the probability of Type II error
The experimenters (you and I) have the
freedom to set the -level for a particular
hypothesis test. That level is called the level
of significance for the test. Changing a can
(and often does) affect the results of the test
—whether you reject or fail to reject H 0.
 11 12/04/2014

Forming Conclusions

Every hypothesis test ends with either

 Rejecting the Null Hypothesis, or
 Failing to Reject the Null Hypothesis

As strange as it may seem, you never accept the

Null Hypothesis. The best you can ever say about
the Null Hypothesis is that you don’t have enough
evidence, based on a sample, to reject it!
However, you may see many researchers
accepting NULL hypothesis !!
 12 12/04/2014

The Seven Steps in Hypothesis Testing

Describe in words the population

characteristic about which hypotheses
are to be tested
State the NULL hypothesis, H0
State the ALTERNATIVE hypothesis, H1
or Ha
Display the test statistic to be used
 13 12/04/2014

The Seven Steps…

Identify the rejection region

 Is it an upper, lower, or two-tailed test?
 Determine the critical value associated
with , the level of significance of the test
Compute all the quantities in the test
statistic, and compute the test
statistic itself
 14 12/04/2014

The Seven Steps…

State the conclusion. That is, decide

whether to reject the null hypothesis,
H0, or fail to reject the null
hypothesis. The conclusion depends
on the level of significance of the test.
Also, remember to state your result
in the context of the specific problem.
Exercise
You can use the logic of hypothesis testing in the courtroom. A
student is being tried for stealing a motorcycle. The judicial
system is based on the premise that a person is "innocent
until proven guilty." It is the court that must prove based on
sufficient evidence that the student is guilty. Thus, the null
and alternative hypotheses would be:

Ho: The student is innocent

Ha: The student is guilty

State the four possible outcomes of the court's decision.

Interpret the Type I and Type II errors in this context.
Two-tailed and One-tailed Test
TWO-tailed tests where the alternate hypothesis
checks both ends
LEFT-tailed tests where the alternate hypothesis
checks only on the left hand side
RIGHT-tailed tests where the alternate hypothesis
checks only the right hand side

A hypothesis test is called a ONE-TAILED TEST if it is

either left-tailed or righttailed; i.e. if it is not TWO-
TAILED.
 TWO-tailed tests

1. How would you have concluded if the t-value obtained is

2.243?
2. Explain how you might commit a Type I or Type II error.
One-tailed Tests
Exercise
A researcher conducted a study to determine the effectiveness
of immediate feedback on the recall of information in biology.
The experimental group of 30 students was provided with
immediate feedback on the questions that were asked. The
control group consisted of 30 students who were given
delayed feedback on the questions asked.

Determine the null hypothesis for the hypothesis test.

Determine the alternative hypothesis for the hypothesis test.
Classify the hypothesis test as two-tailed, left-tailed or right-
tailed. Explain your answer.
The End

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