INFERENTIAL STATISTICS|1

Module 5 HYPOTHESIS TESTING

I. Objectives

1. Define hypothesis testing and its related terms

2. Determine the null and alternative hypothesis of a given situation
3. Determine whether the z-value is in the critical or noncritical region

II. Directions
1. Read and understand the given text.
2. Answer the required exercises and submit your paper on the scheduled submission.

III. Exploration of the text

HYPOTHESIS TESTING

There are many situations in our life that we need to decide in order to solve
situations where we are in the middle of doubts. Like what clothes to wear for the day,
what to eat during breakfast, whether you go to the mall after work, whether the
advertisement is true that the beauty product will lighten up your skin, that 87% of
Filipinos are satisfied with the present administration, etc. Similar to these is the
situation below:

The owner of Coca-Cola company claimed that Coke Zero in can has an average
capacity of 330 ml. However, one particular distributor of the product said that its
average capacity is less than 330 ml because they get a sample of 100 cans and
calculated the mean capacity. The mean capacity from 100 samples is only 323 ml.
Is the claim of the Coca-Cola owner true?

At first glance, you might be inclined to say NO, since one of the distributors say it’s not
330 ml but 323 ml. since 323 is lower than 330. But recall that the means of samples
vary about the population mean when samples are selected from a specific population.
So the question arises. Is there a real difference in the means, or is the difference
simply due to chance (i.e., sampling error)? In this lesson, you will learn how to answer
other many questions of this type by using statistics that are explained in the theory of
hypothesis testing.

In Statistics, decision-making starts with a concern about a population regarding its

characteristics denoted by the parameters. We might be interested in the population
parameter like the mean or the proportion. For example, what makes a farmer decide
when to plant corn crop? Naturally, the decision will be based on a set of observations

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as to when would be the best time of the year to plant the crop. More considerations for
decision-making may include environmental conditions, manpower and equipment
availability, and the need for other resources. In like manner, a wise fisherman looks
into several factors before deciding to go out to catch fish in the sea. In a community, a
local politician may want to know the probability that the voters will approve an agenda
on environmental awareness. These concerns can be addressed in a procedure in
Statistics called hypothesis testing.

1. What is hypothesis testing?

Hypothesis testing is a decision-making process for evaluating claims about a
population based on the characteristics of a sample purportedly coming from that
population. The decision is whether the characteristic is acceptable or not.

2. What makes hypothesis testing different from estimation?

While estimation is concerned on determining statistics that will estimate the
parameter, hypothesis testing is hypothesizing about the parameter and subjecting
this hypothesis to a test.

3. What are the steps involved in hypothesis testing?

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
• make a conclusion.

4. What is statistical hypothesis?

Every hypothesis-testing situation begins with the statement of a hypothesis
specifically called statistical hypothesis. It is a conjecture about a population
parameter. This conjecture may or may not be true.

5. What are the two types of statistical hypothesis?

There are two types of statistical hypotheses for each situation: the null hypothesis
and alternative hypothesis.

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 the 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 the two parameters.

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The null hypothesis is the starting point of investigation. Thus, it is the first
statement to be made. You might ask: Why start with the null hypothesis? The
sequence of arguments is like the situation of a case brought to court where the
accused is presumed ‘not guilty’ at the start. Then, evidences are collected and
evaluated following a standard procedure. At the end of the process, a decision is
made as to whether ‘not guilty’ should be rejected to accepted.

6. How to formulate the statistical hypotheses, null and alternative hypotheses?

Situation A
The owner of Coca-Cola company claimed that Coke Zero in can has an average capacity of
330 ml. However, one particular distributor of the product said that its average capacity is
less than 330 ml because they get a sample of 100 cans and calculated the mean capacity.
There is a difference of 7ml. Can the consumer group generalize that the canned product is
short of the claim? If this can be proven, then Coca-Cola is lying. The evidence has to be
established. So, the consumer group gets interested in the population mean. They are
interested to know if, in reality, each can contain 330ml.

Thus, the two hypotheses would be:

H0: The Coke Zero in can contains an average capacity of 330ml per can. (This is the
claim.)
H1: The Coke Zero in can does not contain an average capacity 330ml per can. (This
is the opposite of the claim.)

But these statements should be written in symbols. For now, let us drop the unit
measure and simply write: and .

The expressions may be interpreted as follows:

1. The sample comes from a population whose mean is 330.
2. The sample comes from a population whose mean is equal to the population
mean 330 (the claim).

If is the population where the sample comes from and is the population mean
(the claim), then the null hypothesis may also be written as: and the
alternative hypothesis is: .

The symbol in the alternative hypothesis suggests that either a greater than (>)
relation, or a less than (<) relation. In this example, the consumer group has a
purpose, a direction. They want to refute the claim because what they got is less than
the population mean. So, the appropriate alternative hypothesis is: .
When the alternative hypothesis utilizes the symbol, the test is said to be non-
directional. When the alternative hypothesis utilizes the > or < symbol, the test is
said to be directional. This will be expounded in the succeeding discussion.

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The problems that involve hypothesis testing, there are words like greater, efficient,
improves, effective, increases, and so on that suggest a right-tailed direction in the
formulation of the alternative hypothesis. Words like decrease, less than, smaller,
and the like suggest a left-tailed direction.

Situation B
A medical researcher is interested in finding out whether a new medication will
have any undesirable side effects to the normal pulse rate of 82 beats per minute.
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, the hypotheses for this situation are
and

The null hypothesis specifies that the mean will remain unchanged, and the
alternative hypothesis states that it will be different. This test is called a two-tailed
test (non-directional), since the possible side effects of the medicine could be to
raise or lower the pulse rate. Explanation on a two-tailed test will be discussed in
the succeeding part.

Situation C
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 her
hypotheses are
and

In this situation, the chemist is interested only in increasing the lifetime of the
batteries, so her alternative hypothesis is that the mean is greater than 36 months.
The null hypothesis is that the mean is equal to 36 months. This test is called
right-tailed (directional), since the interest is in an increase only. Explanation on
right-tailed test will be discussed in the succeeding part.

Situation D
A contractor wishes to lower heating bills by using a special type of insulation in
houses. If the average of the monthly heating bills is P3,600, her hypotheses
about heating costs with the use of insulation are

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and

This test is a left-tailed test, since the contractor is interested only in lowering
heating costs. Explanation on left-tailed test will be discussed in the succeeding
part.

The table below show some common phrases that are used in hypotheses and
conjectures, and the corresponding symbols. This table should be helpful in
translating verbal conjectures into mathematical symbols.

Hypothesis-Testing Common Phrases

> <
Is greater than Is less than
Is above Is below
Is higher than Is lower than
Is longer than Is shorter than
Is bigger than Is smaller than
Is increase Is decreased or
reduced from
= ≠
Is equal to Is not equal to
Is the same as Is not the same as
Has not changed from Has changed from
Is no different from Is different from

7. When can a hypothesis test be directional or non-directional?

With the area under the curve being equal to 1, it has become a mathematical model in
hypothesis testing. The areas are probability values that we need for decision-making. In
hypothesis testing, we determine the probability of obtaining the sample results if the null
hypothesis is true. Thus, the calculations can be graphically represented by using the
normal curve. The greater than the mean (>) direction can be shown at the right tail of the
curve just as the less than the mean (<) direction can be shown at the left tail.

A non-directional test is also called a two-tailed test.

A directional test may either be left-tailed or right-tailed.

These are the graphical representations of the two-tailed test and the one-tailed test.

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Non – directional
(Two-tailed)
The probability is found on
both tails of the distribution.

Directional
(One-tailed, left tail)
The probability is found at the
left tail of the distribution.

Directional
(One-tailed, right tail)
The probability is found at the
right tail of the distribution.

To state hypotheses correctly, researchers must translate the conjecture or

claim from words into mathematical symbols. The basic symbols used are as
follows:
Equal to = Greater than >
Not equal to ≠ Less than <

The null and alternative hypotheses are stated together, and the null hypothesis
contains the equals sign, as shown (where k represents a specified number).

Two-tailed test Right-tailed test Left-tailed test

The null hypothesis is always stated using the equals sign. This is done because
in most professional journals, and when we test the null hypothesis, the

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assumption is that the mean, proportion, or standard deviation is equal to a given

specific value. Also, when a researcher conducts a study, he or she is generally
looking for evidence to support a claim. Therefore, the claim should be stated as
the alternative hypothesis, i.e., using < or > or ≠ . Because of this, the alternative
hypothesis is sometimes called the research hypothesis.

1. What is a statistical test?

A statistical test used the data obtained from a sample to make a decision whether
the null hypothesis should be rejected. The numerical value obtained from a
statistical test is called the test value.

2. What are the possible outcomes of a hypothesis test?

In the hypothesis-situation, there are four possible outcomes. In reality, the null
hypothesis may or may not be true, and a decision is made to reject or not reject it
on the basis of the data obtained from a sample. The four possible outcomes are
shown in Figure 2. Notice that there are two possibilities for a correct decision and
two possibilities for an incorrect decision.

true false
Error
Reject Correct
Type I
Decision

Figure
Figure22
Do not
reject
Error
Correct
(Accept)
Type II
Decision

3. When do Type I Error and Type II Error occur?

A type I error occurs if you reject the null hypothesis when it is true while a type II error
occurs when you do not reject (or accept) the null hypothesis when it is false.
4. What is a level of significance?
The level of significance is the maximum probability of committing a type I error. This
probability is symbolized by  (Greek letter alpha). That is, P (type I error) = . The
probability of a type II error is symbolized by , the Greek letter beta. That is, P (type II
error) = . In most hypothesis-testing situations,  cannot be easily computed; however, 
and are related: decreasing one increases the other.
5. What is a critical value?
The critical value separates the critical region from the noncritical region. The symbol for
critical value is C.V.
6. What is a critical region and a noncritical region?

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The critical or rejection region is the range of values of the test value that indicates that
there is a signifcant difference and that the null hypothesis should be rejected. The
noncritical or nonrejection region is the range of values of the test value that indicates
that the difference was probably due to chance and that the null hypothesis should not be
rejected.
7. What is a one-tailed test?
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
left-tailed test, depending on the direction of the inequality of the alternative hypothesis.
8. What is a two-tailed test?
In a two-tailed test, the null hypothesis should be rejected when the test value is in
either of the two critical regions.

CRITICAL VALUES WITH THE GIVEN α

(a) Left-tailed

(b) Right-tailed

(c) Two-tailed

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES

I. Directions: For each of the given, do the following: (1) draw the normal curve
showing the critical regions, (2) locate the z-value, and (3) indicate if the z-value is in
the rejection or in the nonrejection region.

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1. z = 2.34, 10% level of significance, two-tailed

z=2.34
-1.65 +1.65

Thus, the z-value is in the rejection region.

2. z = -0.45, 5% level of significance, left-tailed

0.05

-0.45
-1.65

Thus, the z-value is in the nonrejection region.

IV. ACTIVITY

I. Directions: State the null and alternative hypotheses for each conjecture and
determine whether the test is directional or non-directional. If it is directional, is it left-
tailed or right-tailed? Identify the claim.
a) 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 pounds.
b) An engineer hypothesizes that the mean number of defects can be decreased in a
manufacturing process of compact disks by using robots instead of humans for
certain tasks. The mean number of defective disks per 1000 is 18.
c) 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.

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II. Directions: For each of the given, do the following: (1) draw the normal curve
showing the critical regions, (2) locate the z-value, and (3) indicate if the z-value is in
the rejection or in the nonrejection region.

1. z = 2.00, 5% level of significance, two-tailed

2. z = -2.68, 1% level of significance, two-tailed
3. z = 1.00, 10% level of significance, right-tailed
4. z = 1.33, 1% level of significance, left-tailed
5. z = -4.00, 1% level of significance, right-tailed

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