Chapter 7: hypothesis testing

Null hypothesis

A statement made about the value of a population parameter

Alternative hypothesis

A statement that describes the value of a population parameter if the null hypothesis is rejected

Hypothesis test

A statistical test that tests the claim made about a parameter by the null hypothesis against that made by H

Test statistic

A statistic calculated from sample data which is used to decide whether or not to reject the null hypothesis

One-tailed test

Where the alternative hypothesis contains < or >

Two-tailed test

Where the alternative hypothesis contains ≠

Critical region

The range of values of the test statistic that would lead you to rejecting the null hypothesis

Critical values

Values on the boundary of the critical region

Level of significance

How unlikely (5%) or very unlikely (1%) an event is to happen

p-value

The probability of the null hypothesis being true

Actual significance level

The probability of incorrectly rejecting the null hypothesis in a hypothesis test

How to carry out a two tailed test

Halve the significance level at the end you are testing and double the calculated to obtain the p value