Question

briefly list the steps of hypothesis testing. In your opinion, which is the most important step? Why?

Answer 1

Answer :Hypothesis is a supposition that appears to explain a group of phenomena and is assumed as a basis of reasoning and experimentation. A Starting point for further investigations from known facts. The following steps are involved in hypothesis testing : 1)State the null hypothesis clearly :The null hypothesis is a statement of no effect, relationship or difference between two or more groups or factors. In research studies ,a researcher is usually interested in disproving the null hypothesis. 2) Specify the alternative hypothesis :It is the statement that there is an effect or difference. The alternative hypothesis can be one-sided or two -sided . We often use Two sided test even when our true hypothesis is one-sided because it requires more evidence against the null hypothesis to accept the alternative hypothesis.    3)Set the significance level :The significance level is generally set at 0.05.This means that there is 5 percenltage chance that you will accept your alternative hypothesis when your null hypothesis is actually true . 4)Calculate the test statistic and corresponding #p value :Hypothesis testing generally uses a test statistic that compares groups or examine associations between variables. When describing a single  sample without establishing relationships between variables, a confidence interval is commonly used .The P value describes the probability of obtaining a sample statistic as or more extreme by chance alone if your null hypothesis is true . 5)Drawing a conclusion :your conclusions also Translate into a statement about your alternative hypothesis. When presenting the result of a hypothesis test, include the descriptive statistics in your conclusions as well. In my opinion ,It is important to perform sampling and collecting data in a way that is designed to test your hypothesis .If your data are not representative, then you can not make statistical inferences about the population you are interested in .