Testing a hypothesis

Question 1

What is a hypothesis?

Answer 1

A statement, claim or assertion about one or more populations.

Question 2

What is the null hypothesis?

Answer 2

A hypothesis set up as the assumption to challenge. It represents the status quo or a conservative statement: that there isn’t sufficient evidence to support the alternative hypothesis.

Question 3

What is the alternative hypothesis?

Answer 3

The statement (hypothesis) you are testing for or seeking evidence to support. If we have sufficiently significant evidence to support the alternative hypothesis, we reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis.

Question 4

What test statistic do we use on hypothesis tests for the mean or proportion of large samples?

Answer 4

The z-statistic

Question 5

What test statistic do we use on hypothesis tests for small samples?

Answer 5

The t-statistic

Question 6

What is the number of degrees of freedom in t-stat calculations for one small sample?

Answer 6

n - 1

Question 7

What is the number of degrees of freedom in test statistic calculations for two small samples (t-test)?

Answer 7

n1 + n2 - 2

Question 8

What test statistic do we use on hypothesis tests for paired samples?

Answer 8

Paired t-test

Question 9

What is the number of degrees of freedom in t-stat calculations for a hypothesis test on regression coefficient of a sample?

Answer 9

n - 2