Chapter

7 Hypothesis Testing

Elementary Statistics
Larson Farber
 A Statistical Hypothesis
A claim about a population.

Null hypothesis H0 Alternative

Statistical hypothesis hypothesis Ha
that contains a contains a statement
statement of equality, of inequality, such as
such as , = or . <, or >.
Complementary Statements
If I am false,
If I am false,
you are true
you are true

H0 Ha
 Writing Hypotheses

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.

H0 : 10 min
Ha : 10 min claim

A consumer magazine claims the

proportion of cell phone calls made during
evenings and weekends is at most 60%.

H0 : p 0.60 claim
Ha : p 0.60
 Errors and Level of
Significance
Actual Truth of H0
H0 True H0 False
Decision

Do not Correct Type II

reject H0 Decision Error
Type I Correct
Reject H0
Error Decision

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.
 Rejection Regions

Sampling distribution for x

Rejection Region

z0
z 0
Critical Value z0
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 critical value separates the rejection
region from the non-rejection region
 Types of Hypothesis Tests
Right-tail test Ha: >value

Rejection Reject H0 if z > z0

region
otherwise fail to reject H0.
0 z0

Left-tail test Ha: <value

Rejection
region Reject H0 if z < z0
z0
otherwise fail to reject H0.
0

Two-tail test Ha: value

Rejection Rejection
region region Reject H0 if z >z0 or z <-z0
-z0 0 z0 otherwise fail to reject H0.
 Interpreting the Decision

Claim is H0

Do
0
tH

n
ot
jec

rej
Re

ect
H0

There is There is not

enough enough
evidence to evidence to
reject the claim reject the claim
 Interpreting the Decision

Claim is Ha

Do
0
tH

n
ot
jec

rej
Re

ect
H0

There is There is not

enough enough
evidence to evidence to
support the support the
claim claim
8 Steps in a Hypothesis Test
1. Write the null and alternative hypothesis
Write H0 and Ha as mathematical statements.
Remember H0 always contains the = symbol.

2. State the level of significance

This is the maximum probability of rejecting
the null hypothesis when it is actually true.
(Making a type I error.)

3. Identify the sampling distribution

The sampling distribution is the distribution for
the test statistic assuming that H0 is true and
that the experiment is repeated an infinite
number of times.
 4. Find the 5. Find the
critical value rejection region

The critical value separates the rejection region

of the sampling distribution from the non-
rejection region.

6. Find the test statistic

Perform the calculations to standardize your
sample statistic.

7. Make your decision

If the test statistic falls in the critical region,
reject H0. Otherwise, fail to reject H0.

8. Interpret your decision

 Critical Values

The critical value z0 separates the rejection region

from the non-rejection region. The area of the
rejection region is equal to .

Rejection Rejection
region region
z0 0 0 z0
Find z0 for a left-tail Find z0 for a right-tail
test with =.01 test with =.05
z0=-2.33
z0=1.645

Rejection Rejection
region region

-z0 0 z0
Find - z0 and z0 for a two-tail test with =.01
-z0=-2.575 and z0 =2.575
 The z-test for a Mean
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 = 0.05, do you have enough
evidence to reject the companys claim?
1. Write the null and alternative hypothesis
H0: 230 mg.(claim) Ha: > 230 mg.

2. State the level of significance

=
0.05
3. Determine the sampling distribution
Since the sample size is at least 30, the sampling
distribution is normal.
 Since Ha contains the > symbol, this is a right tail test.

4. Find the critical

value
Rejection
region
5. Find the rejection
0 z0 region
1.645

6. Find the test statistic

n=52 232 230 2

z 1.44
x = 232 10 1.387
s=10 52
7. Make your decision

z = 1.44 does not fall in the rejection region, so

fail to reject H0
8. Interpret your decision
There is not enough evidence to reject the
companys claim that there is at most 230mg of
sodium in one serving of its cereal.