null hypothesis

Definition
A proposition that undergoes verification to determine if it should be accepted or
rejected in favor of an alternative proposition. Often the null hypothesis is expressed as
"There is no relationship between two quantities."
For example, in market research, the null hypothesis would be "A ten-
percent increase in price will not adversely affectthe sale of this product."
Based on survey results, this hypothesis will be either accepted as correct or rejected
as incorrect.






The slmpllstlc deflnltlon of the null ls us the opposlte of the ulternutlve hypothesls, H
1
, ulthough the prlnclple ls
u llttle more complex thun thut.
The null hypothesls ls u hypothesls whlch the reseurcher trles to dlsprove, re|ect or nulllfy.
The 'null' often refers to the common vlew of somethlng, whlle the ulternutlve hypothesls ls whut the
reseurcher reully thlnks ls the cuuse of u phenomenon.
An experlment concluslon ulwuys refers to the null, re|ectlng or ucceptlng H
0
ruther thun H
1
.
Desplte thls, muny reseurchers neglect the null hypothesls when testlng hypotheses, whlch ls poor pructlce und
cun huve udverse effects.
EXAMPLES OF THE NULL HYPOTHESIS
A reseurcher muy postulute u hypothesls:
H
1
: Tomuto plunts exhlblt u hlgher rute of growth when plunted ln compost ruther thun ln soll.
And u null hypothesls:
H
0
: Tomuto plunts do not exhlblt u hlgher rute of growth when plunted ln compost ruther thun soll.
It ls lmportunt to curefully select the wordlng of the null, und ensure thut lt ls us speclflc us posslble. For
exumple, the reseurcher mlght postulute u null hypothesls:
H
0
: Tomuto plunts show no dlfference ln growth rutes when plunted ln compost ruther thun soll.
There ls u mu|or fluw wlth thls null hypothesls. If the plunts uctuully grow more slowly ln compost thun ln soll,
un lmpusse ls reuched. H
1
ls not supported, but nelther ls H
0
, becuuse there ls u dlfference ln growth rutes.
If the null ls re|ected, wlth no ulternutlve, the experlment muy be lnvulld. Thls ls the reuson why sclence uses u
buttery of deductlve und lnductlve processes to ensure thut there ure no fluws ln the hypotheses.


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