Question

A researcher wants to examine the impact of internet use on heart rate. Students are asked how much they used the internet the hour prior to beginning the study and then grouped into three categories( 31-60 minutes per hour, 1-30 minutes per hour, and no internet use.) The researcher then measured their heartbeat per minute. Assume a two-tailed test and .05 level of significance.

Write out the null and alternative hypothesis.

Answer 1

A hypothesis is formulated after identifying the problem which in the above case is the impact of internet use on heart rate. A null hypothesis is first formulated and tested because the researcher wants to disapprove of it. The null hypothesis would be 'there is no significant effect of internet use on heart rate'. The researcher would then test the alternative hypothesis 'the impact of internet use has a significant effect on heart rate' to approve it. The experimenter must statistically first evaluate whether the null hypothesis stands corrected or rejected. In the above example, the null hypothesis stands rejected and the alternative hypothesis stands corrected due to the .05 level of significance.