Topic: Critical Values and Test Statistics

I. INTRODUCTION
You learned from previous lesson how to formulate statistical hypothesis and when will the
researcher reject or accept the null hypothesis. We compare the test value and the critical value.
A test statistic is a random variable that is calculated from sample data and used in a hypothesis
test. You can use test statistics to determine whether to reject the null hypothesis. The test statistic
compares your data with what is expected under the null hypothesis.

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

1. determine the relationship between the test value and the critical value;
2. identify the critical value when n≥30 and n<30;
3. solve for the test value of a research problem; and
4. create conclusion and decision upon testing the hypothesis.

II. CONCEPT SUMMARY

• Finding the Critical Values for Specific a Values using the Z Table
Step 1. Draw the figure and indicate the appropriate area.
Step 2. Determine the corresponding Z-value from the table.
• Finding the Critical Values for Specific α Values using the t-Table
The critical values for the t-test are given in t-Table. For a one-tailed test, find the α level
by looking at the top row of the table and finding the appropriate column. Find the degrees
of freedom by looking down the left-hand column

III. DISCUSSION/ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES

3.1 Concept Development
Recall that the following steps are in need in testing hypothesis.
Steps in Testing Hypothesis
Whenever we test hypothesis, we follow these steps:
1: Identify the claim and formulate null and alternative hypothesis.
2: Set the level of significance and determine whether the test is one-tailed or two-tailed by looking
at how the alternative hypothesis is expressed. Decide on the test statistic to be used and find the critical
value for the test. Draw or illustrate the rejection region.
3: Compute the test value, using the test statistics.
4: Make a decision whether to accept or reject the null.
5: Formulate a conclusion by answering the research question.

IDENTIFYING THE CRITICAL VALUE

Finding the Critical Values for Specific a Values using the Z-Table
Step 1. Draw the figure and indicate the appropriate area.
a. If the test is right-tailed, the critical region, with an area equal to a, will be on the right side of the
mean.
b. If the test is left-tailed, the critical region, with an area equal to a, will be on the left side of the
mean.
c. If the test is two-tailed, αmust be divided by 2; one-half of the area will be to the right of the mean,
and one-half will be to the left of the mean.

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Step 2. Determine the corresponding Z-value from the table.
a. For a left-tailed test, use the z value that corresponds to the area equivalent to αin the table.
b. For a right-tailed test, use the value that corresponds to the area equivalent to1 α.
c. For a two-tailed test, use the value that corresponds to α/2 for the left value. Itwill be negative.
For the right value, use the value that corresponds to the area equivalent to 1 – α/2. It will be
positive.

EXAMPLES:

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Finding the Critical Values for Specific α Values using the t-Table
The critical values for the t-test are given in t-Table. For a one-tailed test, find the α level by
looking at the top row of the table and finding the appropriate column. Find the degrees of freedom by
looking down the left-hand column. (NOTE: df = n – 1, but for the following examples, df was directly
given)

EXAMPLES:
1. Find the critical value for alpha 0.05 (95% confidence level) with df = 16 for a right-tailed t-test.
Solution:

2. Find the critical value for alpha 0.01 (99%confidence level) with df = 22 for a left-tailed test.
Solution:
Find the 0.01 column in the row one-tailed, and then find 22 in df column. Find the critical
value. Answer: 2.508

3. Find the critical value for alpha 0.05 (95%confidence level) with df = 28 for a two-tailed test.
Solution:
Find the 0.05 column in the row one-tailed, and then find 28 in df column. Find the critical
value. Answer: 1.701

SOLVING FOR TEST VALUE

Z-Test of One Sample Mean
Z-Test is used when we want to test if the sample mean differs significantly from a parameter. It
is used to compare sample mean and population (parameter) mean. We use the z-score formula for
sample means because we are dealing with sample means. Thus, by the Central Limit Theorem we have,

We then have the formula for z-test value written as,

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EXAMPLES:
1. A new drug on the market is claimed by its manufacturers to reduce overweight women by
4.55kg per month with a standard deviation of 0.91kg. Ten women chosen at random have
reported losing an average of 4.05kg within a month. Does this data support the claim of the
manufacturer at 0.05 level of significance?
SOLUTION:

Step 4: Decision: Since the computed z-test value is -1.74 and does not fall in rejection region, we
failed to reject or we accept the null hypothesis.
Step 5: Conclusion: There is no significant difference between the sample mean and the population
mean. Thus, the manufacturer’s claim that the new drug in the market can reduce overweight women
by 4.55 kg per month is not true.

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 2. A sociologist believes that it costs more than Php 90 000 to raise a child from birth to age one. A
random sample of 49 families, each with a child is selected to see if this figure is correct. The
average expenses for these families reveal a mean of Php 92 000 with a standard deviation of
Php 4 500. Based on these sample data, can it be concluded that the sociologist is correct in his
claim? Use 0.05 level of significance.
SOLUTION:

Step 4: Decision: Since the computed or test value does fall within therejection region, we reject the null
hypothesis.
Step 5: Conclusion: There is a significant difference between the sample meanand the population mean.
Thus, the sociologist is correct in claiming that the cost to raise a child from birth to age one is more
than Php 90 000.

T-Test of One Sample Mean

When the sample size is less than 30 and population standard deviation is unknown, we used t-
test to compare. We have the formula for t-test value written as,

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EXAMPLES:
3. The director of a secretarial school believes that its graduates can type 75 words per minute. A
random sample of 12 graduates has been found to have an average of 77.2 words per minute
with a standard deviation of 7.9 words per minute in a typing test. Using the 0.05 level of
significance, test the claim of the director
SOLUTION:

Step 4: Decision: Accept the null hypothesis because the computed value or the test value falls
outside the rejection region.
Step 5: Conclusion: There is no significant difference between the sample mean and the population
mean. Thus, the claim of the director of the secretarial school that their graduates can type more
than 75 word per minute is incorrect.

4. It is hypothesized that the cost of making a movie is Php 24.6 million. This year, a random sample
of 15 movies has shown an average production cost of Pop 20.0 million with a standard deviation
of Php 9.5 million. At 0.01 level of significance, is the hypothesized cost true?
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SOLUTION:

Step 4: Decision: Accept the null hypothesis because the computed value or the test value falls
outside the rejection region.
Step 5: Conclusion: There is no significant difference between the sample mean and the population
mean. Thus, the hypothesized cost of making a movie is true.

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IV. PRACTICE EXERCISES (use extra paper for this exercise)
Solve the following problems. Specify the details in each step in the solution process including
the statement of hypothesis.
1) A manufacturing firm has been averaging 18.2 orders per week for several years.
However, during a recession, orders appear to have slowed down. Suppose the firm’s
production manager randomly selects 32 weeks and finds a sample mean of 15.6 orders,
with a standard deviation of 2.3 orders. Test to determine whether the average number
of orders is down by using confidence level of 95%.

2) Investigating a complaint from a buyer that there is short-weight selling, a manufacturer

takes a random sample of twenty-five 32g cans of coffee from a large shipment and finds
that the mean weight is 31g with a standard deviation of 0.6g. Is there evidence of short-
weighing at the 0.01 level of significance?

3) The manager of the women’s dress department of a store wants to know whether the true
average number of women’s dresses sold per day is 24. In a random sample of 36 days, it
has been found out that the average number of dresses sold is 23 with a standard
deviation of 7 dresses. At the 0.05 level of significance, is there a sufficient evidence to
reject the null hypothesis that µ=24?

4) Suppose an insurance company will begin an extensive advertising campaign to sell

insurance if it thinks that the average amount carried by per family is less than P10, 000.
A random sample of 50 families in the area has an average of P9, 600 with a standard
deviation of P1,000. On the basis of the sample evidence, should the company begin the
advertising campaign at 0.05 level of significance?

5) The mean content of 25 bottles of Brand S of mango juice is 355mL with a standard
deviation of 9mL. Is this in line with the manufacturer’s claim that the bottle contains, on
the average of 360mL? Use 0.01 level of significance.

V. REFERENCES
• STATISTICS and PROBABILITY (For Senior High School); M.Sebastian, M.Garvida, J.Gundran,
A.Del Rosario, A.Pasia (p.118)
• SENIOR HIGH: Conceptual Math & Beyond: STATISTICS AND PROBABILITY; J.Ocampo,
W.Marquez (p.185)
• For Senior High School:STATISTICS & PROBABILITY; J.Malate (p.125)

Prepared by:

MS. REGINE C. ARANZA

Statistics & Probability Teacher

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