# 16: Hypothesis Testing


## Learning Objectives

• Identify the components of a hypothesis test, including the parameter of interest, the null and alternative hypotheses, and the test statistic.
• Describe the proper interpretations of a p-value as well as common misinterpretations
• Distinguish between the two types of error in hypothesis testing, and the factors that determine them.
• Describe how resampling can be used to compute a p-value.
• Define the concept of statistical power, and compute statistical power for a given statistical test.
• Describe the main criticisms of null hypothesis statistical testing

In the first chapter we discussed the three major goals of statistics:

• Describe
• Decide
• Predict

In this chapter we will introduce the ideas behind the use of statistics to make decisions – in particular, decisions about whether a particular hypothesis is supported by the data.

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