Final Exam

Statistics CRIM
1. What is inferential statistics? How is hypothesis testing relevant to inferential statistics?
Answer: The branch of statistics dealing with conclusions, generalizations, predictions,
and estimations based on data from samples. Hypothesis testing is closely related to
inferential statistics in the sense that we make an assumptions, collect data, and
deciding whether to reject or not reject the initial assumption.
2. What is a statistical hypothesis? Provide an example related to a topic of interest in line
with your work.
Answer: statistical hypothesis is a hypothesis that is testable on the basis of observing a
process that is modeled via a set of random variables and a method of statistical
inference.

Probation officers who have prior criminal justice experience (police officer,
H1: corrections officer) are less supportive of rehabilitation than those who have no prior
criminal justice experience.
There is no statistically significant difference in the attitude toward rehabilitation
H0: between probation officers with prior criminal justice experience and those without
this experience.
3. Differentiate the two basic types of inference techniques that researchers use:
parametric and nonparametric test. Why is there a need to ascertain which technique to
employ before proceeding with hypothesis testing?
Answer: a parametric statistical test is one that makes assumptions about the
parameters (defining properties) of the population distributions from which one's
data are drawn, while a non-parametric test is one that makes no such assumptions.
We need to ascertain a technique to be used before proceeding hypothesis testing in
order to accurately get and interpret the results easily.
4. What is a p-value? How is it used as a decision rule in hypothesis testing?
Answer: p-value is a function of the observed sample results (a test statistic) relative to
a statistical model, which measures how extreme the observation is.
1. Specify the null and alternative hypotheses.
2. Using the sample data and assuming the null hypothesis is true, calculate
the value of the test statistic. Again, to conduct the hypothesis test for the

population mean , we use the t- statistic

distribution with n - 1 degrees of freedom.

which follows a t-

3. Using the known distribution of the test statistic, calculate the P-value: "If
the null hypothesis is true, what is the probability that we'd observe a
more extreme test statistic in the direction of the alternative hypothesis
than we did?"
4. Set the significance level, , the probability of making a Type I error to be
small 0.01, 0.05, or 0.10. Compare the P-value to . If the P-value is
less than (or equal to) , reject the null hypothesis in favor of the
alternative hypothesis. If the P-value is greater than , do not reject the
null hypothesis.

5. Hypotheses can never be proven, they can only be supported. Is this statement correct
or not? Explain
Answer: Hypothesis can be proven and can be supported. Through the use of
various tests in inferential statistics, we could determine and prove the claims
whether to reject or not reject.