Test of

Hypothesis

Topics covered
Meaning of hypothesis
Characteristics of hypothesis
Basic concepts concerning testing of

hypothesis

Null and Alternative Hypothesis

Type I and Type II errors
Level of significance
Decision rule or test of hypothesis

Test of Hypothesis
Hypothesis- Hypothesis is generally

considered the most important instrument

in research. Its main function is to suggest
new functions and ideas.
In social sciences where direct knowledge
of population parameters is rare
,hypothesis testing is the often used for
deciding whether sample data supports
our purpose or not.

Meaning of hypothesis
In ordinary context:
Hypothesis means mere assumptions or

supposition which are to be proved or

disproved.
In research context:
Hypothesis is a formal question that is
intended to resolve.
A research hypothesis is a predictive
statement capable of being tested by
scientific methods that relate an independent
variable to some dependent variable.

For example,

Consider statements like the following ones:

Students who receive counseling will
show a greater increase in creativity than
students not receiving counseling
the automobile A is performing as well as
automobile B.
These are hypotheses capable of being
objectively verified and tested. Thus, we may
conclude that a hypothesis states what we are
looking for and it is a proposition which can be
put to a test to determine its validity.

Characteristics of hypothesis
State relation

Related to problem

Specific & Simple

Clear & Precise

Testable

Amenable with time

Characteristics of a
hypothesis
Hypothesis should be able to relate to a

variable.
Hypothesis should be clear and precise
Hypothesis must be consistent with most
known facts
Hypothesis should be capable of being tested
Hypothesis must be stated in very simple
terms.
Hypothesis must be limited in scope and
must be specific

Basic concepts
concerning testing
of hypothesis

1. Null Hypothesis and

Alternative hypothesis

The null hypothesis is generally symbolized

as H0 and the alternative hypothesis as Ha.

Suppose we want to test the hypothesis
that the population mean is equal to the
hypothesized mean m(H0) = 100.
Then we would say that the null hypothesis
is that the population mean is equal to the
hypothesized mean 100 and symbolically
we can express as:
H0: m =m (H0)=100

The null hypothesis, H0 represents a theory

that has been put forward, either because it is

believed to be true or because it is to be used
as a basis for argument, but has not been
proved.
For example, in a clinical trial of a new drug,
the null hypothesis might be that the new drug
is no better, on average, than the current drug.
We would write
H0: there is no difference between the two
drugs on average.

Alternative hypothesis
If our sample results do not support

this then we assume something else

is true. The alternative that we will
accept is known as alternative
hypothesis Ha
Alternative Hypothesis would be
Ho: Ho i.e population mean is
not equal to hypothized mean

Alternative hypothesis
The alternative hypothesis, H a, is a

statement of what a statistical

hypothesis test is set up to establish
For example, in a clinical trial of a new
drug, the alternative hypothesis might
be that the new drug has a different
effect, on average, compared to that of
the current drug.
We would write Ha: the two drugs have
different effects, on average..

Alternative hypothesis
The alternative hypothesis might also

be that the new drug is better, on

average, than the current drug. In this
case we would write
Ha: the new drug is better than the
current drug, on average

Following considerations are

kept in view
The alternative hypothesis is one which one

wants to prove
We give special consideration to the null
hypothesis. This is due to the fact that the null
hypothesis relates to the statement being tested,
whereas the alternative hypothesis relates to the
statement to be accepted if the null is rejected.
The final conclusion once the test has been
carried out is always given in terms of the null
hypothesis. We either 'reject H0 in favour of Ha'
or 'do not reject H0'; we never conclude 'reject
Ha', or even 'accept Ha'

Following considerations are

kept in view
If we conclude 'do not reject H0', this

does not necessarily mean that the

null hypothesis is true, it only
suggests that there is no sufficient
evidence against H0 in favour of Ha;
rejecting the null hypothesis then,
suggests that the alternative
hypothesis may be true.

2. Type I and type II errors in

a
Hypothesis Yest

Type I Error
Type I error : In a hypothesis test, a type I
error occurs when the null hypothesis is
rejected when it is in fact true; that is, H0 is
wrongly rejected.
For example
H0: there is no difference between the two
drugs on average.
Type I error will occur if we conclude that the
two drugs produce different effects when
actually there isnt a difference.

A type I error is often considered to

be more serious, and therefore more

important to avoid, than a type II
error. The hypothesis test procedure
is therefore adjusted so that there is a
guaranteed 'low' probability of
rejecting the null hypothesis wrongly;
this probability is never 0.

Type II Error
2. Type II error refers to the situation when
we accept the null hypothesis when it is
false.
H0: there is no difference between the two
drugs on average.
Type II error will occur if we conclude that
the two drugs produce the same effect
when actually there is a difference.

Type I and Type II Errors Example

Your null hypothesis is that the battery for a

heart pacemaker has an average life of 300

days, with the alternative hypothesis that
the average life is more than 300 days. You
are the quality control manager for the
battery manufacturer.
(a)Would you rather make a Type I error or a

Type II error?
(b) Based on your answer to part (a), should

you use a high or low significance level?

Type I and Type II Errors

Example
Given H0 : average life of pacemaker = 300

days, and HA: Average life of pacemaker > 300

days
(a)It is better to make a Type II error (where H 0 is

false i.e average life is actually more than 300

days but we accept H 0 and assume that the
average life is equal to 300 days)
(b)As we increase the significance level () we

increase the chances of making a type I error.

Since here it is better to make a type II error
we shall choose a low .

3. Level of significance
This is a very important concept in the context of

hypothesis testing.
The significance level of a statistical hypothesis
test is a fixed probability of wrongly rejecting the
null hypothesis H0, if it is in fact true.
It is the probability of a type I error and is set by
the investigator in relation to the consequences
of such an error. That is, we want to make the
significance level as small as possible in order to
protect the null hypothesis and to prevent, as far
as possible, the investigator from inadvertently
making false claims.

Significance level
The significance level is usually denoted

by Significance Level = P(type I error) =

Usually, the significance level is chosen
to be = 0.05 = 5%.
One-sided Test
A one-sided test is a statistical
hypothesis test in which the values for
which we can reject the null hypothesis,
H0 are located entirely in one tail of the
probability distribution.

Continued
In other words, the critical region

for a one-sided test is the set of

values less than the critical value
of the test, or the set of values
greater than the critical value of
the test.
A one-sided test is also referred to
as a one-tailed test of significance

Example
Suppose we wanted to test a

manufacturers claim that there are, on

average, 50 matches in a box. We could
set up the following hypotheses
Ho: =50 as against
Ha: <50 or
Ha: >50

Example
Either of these two alternative

hypotheses would lead to a onesided test. Presumably, we would

want to test the null hypothesis
against the first alternative
hypothesis since it would be useful
to know if there is likely to be less
than 50 matches, on average, in a
box (no one would complain if they
get the correct number of matches
in a box or more).

Continued
Yet another alternative hypothesis

could be tested against the same

null, leading this time to a twosided test:
Ho: =50 as against
Ha: 50

Continued
That is, nothing specific can be

said about the average number of

matches in a box; only that, if we
could reject the null hypothesis in
our test, we would know that the
average number of matches in a
box is likely to be less than or
greater than 50.

Two-Sided Test
A two-sided test is a statistical

hypothesis test in which the values

for which we can reject the null
hypothesis, H0 are located in both
tails of the probability distribution.
A two-sided test is also referred to
as a two-tailed test of significance.

4.Decision rule or test of

hypothesis
Given a hypothesis H0 and an alternative
hypothesis Ha, we make a rule which is known
as decision rule according to which we accept
H0 (i.e., reject Ha) or reject H0 (i.e., accept Ha).
For instance, if (H0 is that a certain lot is good
(there are very few defective items in it) against
Ha) that the lot is not good (there are too many
defective items in it), then we must decide the
number of items to be tested and the criterion
for accepting or rejecting the hypothesis. We
might test 10 items in the lot and plan our
decision saying that if there are none or only 1
defective item among the 10, we will accept H0