Basic Steps of Hypothesis Testing

​

1. Identify the claim

2. Write out the hypothesis and label the original claim and counter claim

3. Left tail, Right tail, or Two tailed test?

4. Identify the critical value

5. Calculate the test statistic

6. Decide - Reject or Fail to Reject the Null Hypothesis

7. Conclude - Tie it back to the original claim 

 

 

Example: A professor at the Wizard’s College of Atlantis believes the average time his students spend on their hamster spells is less than 4 hours a day. He conducts a survey of 40 students and finds that the average time of this sample is 3.85 hours with a standard deviation of 0.20 hours. Use a 0.05 significance level to test the claim that the average study time of hamster spells is less than 4 hours.  

​​

1. Identify the claim

The average study time of hamster spells is less than 4 hours

 

2. Write out the hypothesis and label the original claim and counter claim

​

​

​

 

 

3. Left tail, Right tail, or Two tailed test?

Left Tail

 

4. Identify the critical value

-1.685

 

5. Calculate the test statistic

​

​

​

 

 

6. Decide

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Reject the null hypothesis because the test statistic falls in the rejection zone 

 

7. Conclude

There is enough evidence to support the claim that the students spend less than 4 hours on their hamster spells.