Question

Does hypothesis testing and statistical inference prove that your hypothesis regarding a problem is proved beyond any reasonable doubt? Explain your answer.

Answer 1

Hypothesis Testing

Hypothesis testing allows us to use a sample to decide between two statements made about a Population characteristic.

These two statements are called the Null Hypothesis and the Alternative Hypothesis.

H0: The Null Hypothesis This is the hypothesis or claim that is initially assumed to be true.

HA: The Alternative Hypothesis

This is the hypothesis or claim which we initially assume to be false but which we may decide to accept if there is sufficient evidence.

let us take the example

This procedure is familiar to us already from the legal system: “Innocent until proven guilty”.

The Null Hypothesis (Innocent) is only rejected in favour of the Alternative Hypothesis (Guilty)

if there is sufficient evidence of this “beyond reasonable doubt”.

So to summarize H0 is the status quo and HA is what we want to prove using the data we have collected.