Skip to main content
-
-
7.1: Introduction to Hypothesis Testing
-
Our method of confidence intervals provides an interval estimate of the population parameter at a certain success rate called the confidence level. When we do not know much about the population, we can utilize random sampling to build confidence intervals to learn about populations from scratch. At other times, we have claims about a certain population that we hope to test. This quest falls within the realm of inferential statistics and is the subject of this chapter.
-
-
7.2: Claims on Population Means
-
We begin with testing hypotheses about the population mean. Just like our considerations of confidence intervals for means, we will have two cases to consider based on whether the population standard deviation is known or unknown. The latter case is the more frequently occurring case as we discussed in the chapter on confidence intervals, but we again begin with the case that the population standard deviation is known because of pedagogical considerations.
-
-
7.3: Claims on Dependent Paired Variables
-
Researchers in medicine, education, and business are often interested in studying the effect of some treatment, educational practice, or product. It is quite natural to assess prior to some treatment and then again once the treatment has been in effect. We can measure effect of the intervention on each patient by considering the difference in the pre-assessment and post-assessment. In studying these paired differences, we can utilize techniques already developed in this chapter to test claims.
-
-
7.4: Claims on Population Proportions
-
We are often interested in the proportion of members in a population that have a given quality. Sometimes, like when deciding whether to take a motion to the floor for a vote or deciding if production equipment is working sufficiently well, we have benchmark proportions that we want to meet. Other times, assertions about the proportion are made and warrant being tested. In this section, we develop the machinery to test such claims on proportions.
-
-
7.5: Claims on Population Variances - Optional Material
-
Having developed hypothesis testing for claims on population means, paired variables, and proportions, we are aware that the process is supported by our understanding of the sampling distributions of particular sample statistics. This remains the case, when considering claims on population variance and standard deviation.