HYPOTHESIS

TESTING
 What is
HYPOTHESIS TESTING?
• Is the making an assumption about the question parameter. OR
• A set of logical and statistical guidelines use to make decision
from sample statistics to population characteristics.

• For example:
• The customer loyalty brand A as better than B.
• STEPS OF HYPOTHESIS TESTING
☆ The research hypothesis
☆ Sample to population
☆ The structure of hypothesis testing
☆ Operationally defining (measuring) the study
☆ Variables
☆ The null and alternative hypothesis
☆ Significance levels
☆ One- and two- tailed prediction
☆ Rejecting or failing to reject the null hypothesis
THE RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
• The first step in hypothesis testing is to set a
research hypothesis.
 SAMPLE TO
POPULATION
• If you have measured individuals (or any other
types of “object”) in a study and want to
understand differences (or any other type of
effect), you can simply summarize the data you
have collected.
 THE STRUCTURE OF
HYPOTHESIS TESTING
• Whilst all pieces of quantitative research have
some dilemma, issue or problem that they are
trying to investigate, the focus in hypothesis
testing is to find ways to structure these in
such a way that we can test them effectively.
Typically, it is important to:
 OPERATIONALLY
defining (measuring) the study
• So far, we have simply referred to the outcome of
the teaching methods as the "performance" of
the students, but what do we mean by
"performance". "Performance" could mean how
students score in a piece of coursework, how
many times they can answer questions in class,
what marks they get in their exams, and so on.
VARIABLES
• The next step is to define the variables
that we are using in our study (see the
statistical guide, Types of Variable, for
more information).
EXAMPLE:
• providing lectures and seminar classes (Sarah) and providing
lectures by themselves (Mike) – had on the performance of
Sarah's 50 students and Mike's 50 students, the variables
being measured are:
• By using a very straightforward example, we have only one
dependent variable and one independent variable although
studies can examine any number of dependent and
independent variables.
 THE NULL
and
ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS
• In order to undertake hypothesis testing you need to
express your research hypothesis as a null and
alternative hypothesis. The null hypothesis and
alternative hypothesis are statements regarding the
differences or effects that occur in the population.
SIGNIFICANCE LEVEL
• The level of statistical significance is often
expressed as the so-called p-value. Depending on
the statistical test you have chosen, you will
calculate a probability (i.e., the p-value) of
observing your sample results (or more
extreme) given that the null hypothesis is true
ONE- and TWO- TAILED PREDICTION
• When considering whether we reject the null
hypothesis and accept the alternative
hypothesis, we need to consider the direction
of the alternative hypothesis statement.
 Rejecting or failing to reject the null hypothesis
• If our statistical analysis shows that the significance level
is below the cut-off value we have set (e.g., either 0.05 or
0.01), we reject the null hypothesis and accept the
alternative hypothesis. Alternatively, if the significance
level is above the cut-off value, we fail to reject the null
hypothesis and cannot accept the alternative hypothesis.
You should note that you cannot accept the null
hypothesis, but only find evidence against it.