Overview
Hypothesis testing is a formal process for investigating claims about a population based on sample data. It involves comparing two competing hypotheses.
The Two Hypotheses
- Null Hypothesis (H0): The default assumption that there is no effect or no difference.
- Alternative Hypothesis (H1 or Ha): The claim we are trying to find evidence for.
The Process
- State the hypotheses.
- Choose a significance level (alpha, usually 0.05).
- Collect data and calculate a test statistic.
- Determine the P-value.
- Reject or fail to reject the Null Hypothesis based on the P-value.