Chapter

7
Elementary Statistics
Larson Farber
Hypothesis Testing

A Statistical Hypothesis
Alternative
hypothesis H
a

contains a statement
of inequality, such as
<, or >.

Null hypothesis H
0

Statistical hypothesis
that contains a
statement of equality,
such as , = or .
If I am false,
you are true
If I am false,
you are true
H
0
H
a
Complementary Statements
A claim about a population.

Write the claim about the population. Then,
write its complement. Either hypothesis, the
null or the alternative, can represent the claim.
A hospital claims its ambulance response
time is less than 10 minutes.
H
0
:

10
min
H
a
:
10
min claim
H
a
:
60 . 0 p
H
0
:

60 . 0 p
claim
Writing Hypotheses
A consumer magazine claims the
proportion of cell phone calls made during
evenings and weekends is at most 60%.

A type I error: Null hypothesis is actually
true but the decision is to reject it.
Level of significance,
Maximum probability of committing
a type I error.
D
e
c
i
s
i
o
n

Actual Truth of H
0
Errors and Level of
Significance
H
0
True H
0
False
Do not
reject H
0

Reject H
0

Correct
Decision
Correct
Decision
Type II
Error
Type I
Error

Sampling distribution for
x
The rejection region is the range of
values for which the null hypothesis is not
probable. It is always in the direction of
the alternative hypothesis. Its area is equal
to a.
Rejection Region
0
z
z
0
A critical value separates the rejection
region from the non-rejection region
Critical Value z
0
Rejection Regions

z
0
0
-z
0
0 z
0
Right-tail test H
a
: >value

Reject H
0
if z > z
0

otherwise fail to reject H
0
.
Two-tail test H
a
: value

Reject H
0
if z >z
0
or z <-z
0
otherwise fail to reject H
0
.
Left-tail test H
a
: <value

Reject H
0
if z < z
0
otherwise fail to reject H
0
.
Rejection
region
z
0
0
Rejection
region
Rejection
region
Rejection
region
Types of Hypothesis Tests

Claim is H
0
There is not
enough
evidence to
reject the claim
There is
enough
evidence to
reject the claim
Interpreting the Decision

Claim is H
a
There is not
enough
evidence to
support the
claim
There is
enough
evidence to
support the
claim
Interpreting the Decision

1. Write the null and alternative hypothesis
2. State the level of significance
3. Identify the sampling distribution
Write H
0
and H
a
as mathematical statements.
Remember H
0
always contains the = symbol.
This is the maximum probability of rejecting the
null hypothesis when it is actually true. (Making
a type I error.)
The sampling distribution is the distribution for
the test statistic assuming that H
0
is true and
that the experiment is repeated an infinite
number of times.
8 Steps in a Hypothesis Test

7. Make your decision
6. Find the test statistic
5. Find the
rejection region
4. Find the
critical value
8. Interpret your decision
The critical value separates the rejection region
of the sampling distribution from the non-
rejection region.
Perform the calculations to standardize your
sample statistic.
If the test statistic falls in the critical region,
reject H
0
. Otherwise, fail to reject H
0
.

The critical value z
0
separates the rejection region
from the non-rejection region. The area of the
rejection region is equal to a.
z
0
0
Rejection
region
z
0
0
Rejection
region
-z
0
0 z
0
Rejection
region
Rejection
region
Find z
0
for a left-tail
test with a =.01
Find z
0
for a right-tail
test with a =.05
Find - z
0
and z
0
for a two-tail test with a =.01
z
0
=-2.33
-z
0
=-2.575 and z
0
=2.575
z
0
=1.645
Critical Values

A cereal company claims the mean
sodium content in one serving of its cereal is
no more than 230 mg. You work for a
national health service and are asked to test
this claim. You find that a random sample of
52 servings has a mean sodium content of
232 milligrams and a standard deviation of
10 mg. At a= 0.05, do you have enough
evidence to reject the companys claim?
1. Write the null and alternative hypothesis
H
0
: 230 mg.(claim) Ha: > 230 mg.
2. State the level of significance
a= 0.05
3. Determine the sampling distribution
Since the sample size is at least 30, the sampling
distribution is normal.
The z-test for a Mean

7. Make your decision
6. Find the test statistic
8. Interpret your decision
5. Find the rejection
region
Rejection
region
Since H
a
contains the > symbol, this is a right tail test.
n=52
x = 232
s=10
44 . 1
387 . 1
2
52
10
230 232

z
z = 1.44 does not fall in the rejection region, so
fail to reject H
0
There is not enough evidence to reject the
companys claim that there is at most 230mg of
sodium in one serving of its cereal.
z
0
0
1.645
4. Find the critical
value