Hypothesis Testing

DIANNE R. REQUIZA, MAEd

Instructor
OUTLINE
A. Steps in Hypothesis Testing—Traditional Method
B. z Test for a Mean
C. t Test for a Mean
D. z Test for a Proportion
E. x2 Test for a Variance or Standard Deviation
OBJECTIVES
A. Understand the definitions used in hypothesis testing.
B. State the null and alternative hypotheses.
C. Find critical values for the z test.
D. State the five steps used in hypothesis testing.
E. Test means when s is known, using the z test.
F. Test means when s is unknown, using the t test.
G. Test proportions, using the z test.
H. Test variances or standard deviations, using the chi-square test.
Hypothesis Testing
 a decision-making process for evaluating claims about a population.
 In hypothesis testing, the researcher must
• define the population under study,
• state the particular hypotheses that will be investigated,
• give the significance level,
• select a sample from the population,
• collect the data,
• perform the calculations required for the statistical test, and
• reach a conclusion.
Three Methods of Hypothesis Testing

1. The traditional method

2. The P-value method
3. The confidence interval method
A statistical hypothesis is a conjecture about
a population parameter. This conjecture may or
may not be true.

Two Types of Statistical Hypotheses

The null hypothesis, symbolized by H0, is a statistical hypothesis that
states that there is no difference between a parameter and a specific
value, or that there is no difference between two parameters.
The alternative hypothesis, symbolized by H1, is a statistical
hypothesis that states the existence of a difference between a
parameter and a specific value, or states that there is a difference
between two parameters.
Situation A
A medical researcher is interested in finding out whether a new
medication will have any undesirable side effects. The researcher is
particularly concerned with the pulse rate of the patients who take
the medication. Will the pulse rate increase, decrease, or remain
unchanged after a patient takes the medication? Since the
researcher knows that the mean pulse rate for the population under
study is 82 beats per minute, write the hypotheses for this situation.

and
Situation B
A chemist invents an additive to increase the life of
an automobile battery. If the mean lifetime of the
automobile battery without the additive is 36
months, then what will be the hypotheses?

and
Situation C
An electrician wishes to lower electric bills by using a
special type of insulation in houses. If the average of
the monthly electric bills is ₱4500, state the
hypotheses about costs with the use of insulation.

and
State the null and alternative hypotheses for each conjecture.
1. A researcher thinks that if expectant mothers use vitamin
pills, the birth weight of the babies will increase. The
average birth weight of the population is 8.6
andpounds.
2. An engineer hypothesizes that the mean number of defects
can be decreased in a manufacturing process of USB drives
by using robots instead of humans for certain tasks. The
mean number of defective drives per 1000 is 18.
and
3. A psychologist feels that playing soft music during a test
will change the results of the test. The psychologist is not
sure whether the grades will be higher or lower. In the past,
the mean of the scores was 73.
and
A statistical test uses the data obtained from a sample to
make a decision about whether the null hypothesis should be
rejected.

The numerical value obtained from a statistical test is called

the test value.
A type I error occurs if you reject
the null hypothesis when it is
true.

A type II error occurs if you do

not reject the null hypothesis
when it is false.
The critical or rejection region is the range of test values that
indicates that there is a significant difference and that the
null hypothesis should be rejected.

The noncritical or nonrejection region is the range of test

values that indicates that the difference was probably due to
chance and that the null hypothesis should not be rejected.

The critical value (C.V.) separates the critical region from the
noncritical region.
A one-tailed test indicates that
the null hypothesis should be
rejected when the test value is
in the critical region on one
side of the mean.

A one-tailed test is either a

right-tailed test or a left-tailed
test, depending on the
direction of the inequality of
the alternative hypothesis.
In a two-tailed test, the
null hypothesis should be
rejected when the test
value is in either of the
two critical regions.
Solving Hypothesis-Testing Problems
(Traditional Method)

1. State the hypotheses and identify the claim.

2. Find the critical value(s).
3. Compute the test value.
4. Make the decision to reject or not reject the null
hypothesis.
5. Summarize the results.
CHECK UP TIME
State the null and alternative hypotheses for each
conjecture.
1. The average age and
of community college students is 24.6
years.
and
2. The average income of an agent is ₱51,497.
and
3. The average age of attorneys is greater than 25.4
years. and

4. The average score of high school basketball games is

less than 88. and

5. The average resting pulse rate of male marathon

z Test for a Mean
PROBLEM 1. Intelligence Tests
In a certain city the average IQ score is 101.5. The variable is normally
distributed, and the population standard deviation is 15. A school
superintendent claims that the students in her school district have an
IQ higher than the average of 101.5. She selects a random sample of
30 students and finds the mean of the test scores is 106.4. Test the
claim at 0.05.
PROBLEM 2. SAT Tests
For a specific year, the average
score on the SAT Math test was
515. The variable is normally
distributed, and the population
standard deviation is 100. The
same superintendent in the
previous example wishes to see if
her students scored significantly
below the national average on the
test. She randomly selected 36
student scores, as shown. At 0.10,
is there enough evidence to
support the claim?
P-Value Method for Hypothesis Testing
P-Value Method for Hypothesis Testing
The P-value is the actual area under the standard normal distribution
curve (or other curve, depending on what statistical test is being used)
representing the probability of a particular sample statistic or a more
extreme sample statistic occurring if the null hypothesis is true.

For example, suppose that an alternative hypothesis is H 1: and the

mean of a sample is . If the computer printed a P-value of 0.0356 for a
statistical test, then the probability of getting a sample mean of 52 or
greater is 0.0356 if the true population mean is 50 (for the given
sample size and standard deviation). The relationship between the P-
value and the value can be explained in this manner. For P = 0.0356,
the null hypothesis would be rejected at = 0.05 but not at = 0.01.
P-Value Method for Hypothesis Testing
When the hypothesis test is two-tailed, the area in one tail must
be doubled. For a two-tailed test, if is 0.05 and the area in one
tail is 0.0356, the P-value will be 2(0.0356) = 0.0712. That is, the
null hypothesis should not be rejected at = 0.05, since 0.0712 is
greater than 0.05. In summary, then, if the P-value is less than ,
reject the null hypothesis. If the P-value is greater than , do not
reject the null hypothesis.
Solving Hypothesis-Testing Problems
(P-Value Method)

Step 1 State the hypotheses and identify the

claim.
Step 2 Compute the test value.
Step 3 Find the P-value.
Step 4 Make the decision.
Step 5 Summarize the results.
PROBLEM 3. Wind Speed
A researcher claims that the average wind speed in a certain city is 8
miles per hour. A sample of 32 days has an average wind speed of 8.2
miles per hour. The standard deviation of the population is 0.6 mile
per hour. At = 0.05, is there enough evidence to reject the claim? Use
the P-value method.
Step 4 Make the decision.
The decision is to not reject
the null hypothesis, since
the P-value is greater than
0.05.

Step 5 Summarize the results. There is not enough evidence to reject

the claim that the average wind speed is 8 miles per hour.
PROBLEM 4. Cost of College Tuition
A researcher wishes to test the claim that the average cost of tuition
and fees at a four-year public college is greater than $5700. She
selects a random sample of 36 four-year public colleges and finds the
mean to be $5950. The population standard deviation is $659. Is
there evidence to support the claim at 0.05? Use the P-value method.
Step 4 Make the decision. Since
the P-value is less than 0.05,
the decision is to reject the null
hypothesis.

Step 3 Find the P-value. Find the corresponding area

under the normal distribution for z 2.28. It is 0.9887.
Subtract this value for the area from 1.0000 to find the
area in the right tail.
Step 5 Summarize the results. There is enough
Hence, the P-value is 0.0113. evidence to support the claim that the tuition and
fees at four-year public colleges are greater than
$5700.
Use traditional method in testing hypothesis.

1. Facebook Friends. Many people believe that the average

number of Facebook friends is 130. The population standard
deviation is 38.2. A random sample of 50 high school students in a
particular county revealed that the average number of Facebook
friends was 162. At 0.05, is there sufficient evidence to conclude
that the mean number of friends is greater than 130?

2. Heights of NBA Players. The average height of an NBA player is

6.698 feet. A random sample of 30 players’ heights from a major
college basketball program found the mean height was 6.75 feet
with a standard deviation of 5.5 inches. At 0.05, is there sufficient
evidence to conclude that the mean height differs from 6.698 feet?
Use p-value method in testing hypothesis.
1. Soft Drink Consumption. A researcher claims that the yearly
consumption of soft drinks per person is 52 gallons. In a sample of
50 randomly selected people, the mean of the yearly consumption
was 56.3 gallons. The standard deviation of the population is 3.5
gallons. Find the P-value for the test. On the basis of the P-value, is
the researcher’s claim valid?
2. Speeding Tickets. A motorist claims that the South Boro Police
issue an average of 60 speeding tickets per day. These data show
the number of speeding tickets issued each day for a randomly
selected period of 30 days. Assume is 13.42. Is there enough
evidence to reject the motorist’s claim at 0.05? Use the P-value
method.
t Test for a Mean
When the population standard deviation is unknown, the t test, is used. The distribution
of the variable should be approximately normal.
The t distribution is similar to the standard normal distribution in the following ways.
1. It is bell-shaped.
2. It is symmetric about the mean.
3. The mean, median, and mode are equal to 0 and are located at the center of the
distribution.
4. The curve approaches but never touches the x axis.
The t distribution differs from the standard normal distribution in the following ways.
5. The variance is greater than 1.
6. The t distribution is a family of curves based on the degrees of freedom, which is a
number related to sample size.
7. As the sample size increases, the t distribution approaches the normal distribution.
t Test for a Mean