Hypothesis Testing

Comparing One Sample to its

Population
Hypothesis Testing w/ One
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If the population mean () and standard
deviation () are known:
Testing if our sample mean ( ) is significantly
different from our sampling distribution of the
mean
Similar to testing if how different an individual
score is from other scores in the sample
What is this test called?
X
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z-score formula [for an individual score (x)] =


z-score formula [for means ( )] =

X
z
X
N
X
z

Hypothesis Testing w/ One

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Testing score versus
standard deviation for
an distribution of scores


Testing mean versus
standard deviation for
distribution of sample
means
I.e. standard error

X
z
N
X
z

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Two implications of this formula:
1. Because we are dividing by N (actually N),
with the same data (same sample & population
mean and ), but larger sample size, our p-value
will be smaller (i.e. more likely to be significant)
All statistical tests that produce p-values will be
sensitive to sample size i.e. with enough people
anything is significant at p < .05
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Two implications of this formula:
2. If you recall, this formula was derived from the
formula for the normal distribution
This means that your data must be normally
distributed to use this test validly
However, this test is robust to violations of this
assumption i.e. you can violate it, if you have (a) a
large enough sample or (b) your population data is
normally distributed
Why?
Hypothesis Testing w/ One
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The Central Limit Theorem:
Given a population with mean and variance

2
, the sampling distribution of the mean (the
distribution of sample means) will have a
mean equal to (i.e., = ) and a variance
(
2
) equal to
2
/N (and standard deviation,
= /N). The distribution will approach the
normal distribution as N, the sample size,
increases.
X
X X
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Example #1:
You want to test the hypothesis that the current
crop of Kent State freshman are more depressed
than Kent State undergraduates in general.
What is your sample and what is your population?
What is your H
o
and your H
1
?
Are you using a one- or two-tailed test?
Assuming that for current Kent State freshman, their
mean depression score is 15, while the mean for all
previous Kent State undergrads (N = 100,000) is 10,
and their standard deviation is 5
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= 5/.0158 = 316.46


Look up value in Table E10 with value in Smaller
Portion
p < 0.0000
Since this is less than .05 (or .025 if we were using a
two-tailed test), we could conclude that the current
batch of freshman is significantly more depressed
than previous undergrads
Also notice the effect that our large N had on our p-value
000 , 100
5
10 15
z
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Example #2:
You want to test the hypothesis that a treatment conducted
at the ward you are working on in a hospital is more
beneficial than the average treatment used in other wards
of the hospital
Get into groups of 2 or more
State H
o
and H
1
State if youre using a one- or two-tailed test and why.
Given that the mean wellness score of the people on your
ward is 87, and that the mean for the entire hospital (N =
20) is 76 and the standard deviation is 15, is your ward
significantly better? State the p-value that supports your
claim.
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Example #2:

= 11/3.36 = 3.27


Smaller Portion = p < .0006
20
15
76 87
z
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Most often, however, we dont know the and ,
because this is what were trying to estimate with
our sample in the first place
The formula for the t statistic accomplishes this by
substituting s
2
for
2
in the formula for the z statistic
Because of this substitution, we have a different
statistic, which requires that we use a different table
than E.10
Dont worry too much about why its different (you
can skip pg. 274 in your book if you want, you wont
be tested on it)
Hypothesis Testing w/ One
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Testing mean versus
standard deviation for
distribution of sample
means
I.e. standard error

Testing mean versus
standard deviation for
sample
N
s
X
t

N
X
z

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After computing our t statistic, we need to
compare it with the t-table (called the
Students T-Table; E.6, pg. 519)
First, we will need to become familiar with the
concept of degrees of freedom or df
df = N 1
This represents the number of individual subjects
data points that are free to vary, if you know the
mean or s already
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For example:
If we already know that a particular set of data has a mean
of 5, and 10 scores in total (n = 10)
Once we have nine of those scores, we can calculate the
tenth, however, if we have eight scores we do not know
what the other two scores could be
We can solve x + 5 = 10, but not x + y = 10, because
in the latter we have more than one unknown (x and y)
x and y could be 5 and 5, 8 and 2, 4 and 6, 7 and 3, etc.
Therefore, nine scores are free to vary, then the tenth is
fixed

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Two-Tailed Significance Level
df .10 .05 .02 .01
10 1.812 2.228 2.764 3.169
15 1.753 2.131 2.602 2.947
20 1.725 2.086 2.528 2.845
25 1.708 2.060 2.485 2.787
30 1.697 2.042 2.457 2.750
100 1.660 1.984 2.364 2.626
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df: we know = N 1
Two-Tailed vs. One-Tailed Tests and Significance
Level (): we determine in advance
@ p = .05 for a Two-Tailed Test (with 10 df), the
Critical Value of T, or the value of t equal to a
Smaller Value of 2.5% (if we were using the z-
table), is 2.228
Once we calculate our t-score, we compare it with our
rejection region and our critical t to determine if we reject
H
0
or fail to reject it
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p = .025; z = 1.96; t = 2.228
Our rejection region is the area in red it is all in one tail because were
using a one-tailed test (in this example), and is in the lower half of the
distribution because were interested in scores below the population mean
(again, in this example)
If we were interested in scores above the population mean, we would move
our rejection region to the other tail
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Factors that influence the z and t statistics:
The difference between the sample mean and population
mean greater differences = greater t and z values
The magnitude of s (or s
2
) since were dividing by s,
smaller values of s result in larger values of t or z [i.e. we
want to decrease variability in our sample (error)]
The sample size the bigger the bigger t and z
The significance level () the smaller the , the higher the
critical t to reject H
o
although raising also raises our
Type I Error, so we probably wont want to do this without
good reason
Whether the test is one- or two-tailed two-tailed tests split
into two tails of p< .025, instead of one tail at p < .05
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Example #1:
Youve administered a therapy for people with anorexia
that will supposedly assist them in gaining weight. The
following data are amount of weight gained in pounds over
your 16 session therapy for 29 participants. Does this
represent a significantly increased degree of weight gain
compared to the average weight gained without treatment
(-.45 lbs.)?
What are H
o
and H
1
?
Will you be using a one- or two-tailed test?
Why?
Based on this, what is your df? What is your
critical t?

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Example #1:

1.7 -9.1
.7 2.1
-.1 -1.4
-.7 1.4
-3.5 -.3
14.9 -3.7
3.5 -.8
17.1 2.4
-7.6 12.6
1.6 1.9
11.7 3.9
6.1 .1
1.1 15.4
-4.0 -.7
20.9
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Example #1:
Critical t (df = 28; two-tailed test at .05) = 2.048
Sample Mean = 87.2/29 = 3.0069
s
2
= (1757.8 [(87.2)
2
/29])/ 28 = 53.41
s = 7.3085
t = (3.0069 - -.45)/(7.3085/29) = 2.5472, p < .05
t > Critical t and in our rejection region, which is above the
population mean (since were only interested in people
gaining weight), therefore we reject H
o
and conclude that
our treatment is more effective than no treatment at all

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Example #2:
A family therapist states that parents talk to their
teenagers an average of 27 minutes per week.
Surprised by that claim, a psychologist decided to
collect some data on the amount of time parents
spend in conversation with their teenage children.
For the n = 12 parents, the study revealed that
following times (in minutes) devoted to
conversation in a week:
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Example #2:
Do the psychologists findings differ significantly from the
therapists claim? If so, is the family experts claim an
overestimate or underestimate of actual time spent talking
to children? Use the .05 level of significance with two tails.
29 22 19 25 27 28
21 22 24 26 30 22
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Example #2:
H
0
= = 27
Critical t (df = 11) = 2.201
Mean = 24.58, s
2
= 12.24, (s/n) = 1.00, and t(11)
= -2.41
Reject H
0
,

and conclude that the data are
significantly different (less time) from the
therapists claim
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Often, if were reporting the results of our
experiments to the public, or the results of an
assessment (psychological or otherwise) to a
client, we want to emphasize to them that our
measurements are made with error, or that
our samples include sampling error
We can do this by including intervals around the
scores we report, indicating that the true score
measured without error lies in this interval
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This is what is known as a Confidence
Interval
In keeping with the p < .05 tradition, we are often
looking for the 95% confidence interval, or the
scores that 95% of our distribution lie, but we can
do this for any interval
They are calculated just like for z-scores, where
we plug the t values into the formula and work
backwards
Hypothesis Testing w/ One
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For a 95% CI:
Given your df (well assume df = 9 for this
example) and type of test (assume a two-tailed
test for now), look up your critical values of t from
Table E.6 (t = 2.262)
Plug into your formula with your Sample Mean
and s (which well assume are 1.463 and .341,
respectively), and solve for

Hypothesis Testing w/ One
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For a 95% CI:
2.262 = (1.463 )/(.341/10)
= 2.262(.108) + 1.463 = .244 + 1.462
.244 + 1.463 = 1.707
-.244 + 1.463 = 1.219
CI
.95
= 1.219 1.707