Variables

Hypothesis
testing
DUONG THUY LINH
FACULT Y OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY
Objectives
1. Define what variables are and describe why their selection is important in
research.
2. State the difference between numerical and categorical variables
3. State the difference between dependent and independent variables and
how they are used in research designs.
4. Define null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis
5. Identify the four steps of hypothesis testing
6. Define type I error and type II error
What is a variable?
➢ A VARIABLE is a characteristic of a person, object or phenomenon
which can take on different values.
➢ Researcher selects variables based on research objectives
➢ Research implementation is the collection of these variables
Types of variables

Characteristics
of variables Relationship
between
variables
Based on variable
characteristics
Numerical
•Continuous
•Discrete
Categorical
•Ordinal
•Nominal
•Binominal
Numerical variable
❖ Continuous.
With this type of data, one can develop more and more
accurate measurements depending on the instrument used.
e.g.:
◦ height in centimeters (2.5 cm or 2.546 cm or 2.543216 cm)
◦ temperature in degrees Celsius (37.20C or 37.199990C etc.)
❖ Discrete. These are variables in which numbers can only have full values,
e.g.:
◦ number of visits to a clinic (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.).
◦ number of sexual partners (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.)
Categorical
❖ Ordinal variables. These are grouped variables that are ordered or ranked in increasing or
decreasing order.

Education level
1. Primary school
2. Secondary school
3. High school
4. Vocational training
5. College
6. University
7. Postgraduate/higher
Categorical
❖ Nominal variables. The groups in these variables do not have an order or ranking in them

Religion
1. Christian
2. Moslem
3. Hindu
4. Buddhism
5. Other
Categorical
❖ Binomial variables. The variable only has 2 values/groups

Are you pregnant?

1. Yes
2. No
Can a Numerical variable become
Categorical?

Numerical Categorical
•Continuous •Ordinal
•Discrete •Nominal
•Binomial
Note
➢ Categorical variable can be number
➢ Both numerical and categorical variables can
be converted to binomial variable
➢ Data in a form of numerical may be more
valuable when converting to categorical
Advantage of numerical variable
EXAMPL E: WEIGHT OF BIRTH OF 500 N EWBORN S
Advantage of numerical variable
EXAMPL E: SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSUR E OF 500 PARTICIPAN T S
 Study activity No.1
Numerical Categorical Continuous Discrete Ordinal Nominal Binomial
Age
Blood
glucose
Gender
Ethnicity
Income
Based on relationship between
variables

Dependent
Independent (Effect /
(Cause) Outcome)

Confounding
Variables
➢ The variable that is used to describe or measure the problem under
study is called the DEPENDENT variable.
➢ The variables that are used to describe or measure the factors that are
assumed to cause or at least to influence the problem are called the
INDEPENDENT variables.
➢ Confounding factor is a variable that distorts the influence of the
independent variable with the dependent variable
➢ Are identified by researcher and are significant only within that study
Confounding variable
➢Must have an association with the disease (should be a risk factor for the
disease)
➢Must be associated with the exposure (must be unequally distributed
between the exposed and nonexposed groups)
➢Must not be an effect of the exposure nor (link to this) be a factor in the
causal pathway of the disease
 I D I D I D

1 C 2 C 3 C

I D I D I D

4 C C 6 C
5

I D I D I D

7 C 8 C 9 C
Hypothesis
testing
What is “Hypothesis?
➢ Hypothesis: A premise or claim that we want to test.
➢ Two types of statistical hypotheses:
➢ Null hypothesis: Ho
➢ Alternative hypothesis: H1/Ha (Research hypothesis – involves the
claim to be tested)
➢ Null hypothesis (Ho): there is no difference between a parameter and
a specific value or that there is no difference between two parameters.
➢ Alternative hypothesis (H1): there is an existence of a difference
between a parameter and a specific value, or there is a difference
between two parameters.
What is Hypothesis testing?
➢ The main goal in many research studies is to check whether the data
collected support certain statements or predictions.
➢ Hypothesis testing or significance testing is a method for testing a
claim or hypothesis about a parameter in a population, using data
measured in a sample.
Hypothesis testing
❖The hypothesis we want to test is if H1 is “likely” true.
❖Two possible outcomes:
➢ Reject Ho and accept H1 because of sufficient evidence the sample
in favor or H1;
➢ Fail to reject Ho because of insufficient evidence to support H1
Hypothesis testing

Very important:
Failure to reject Ho does not mean the null hypothesis is true. There
is no formal outcome that says, “accept Ho”. It only means that we
do not have sufficient evidence to support H1.
Type I error and Type II error
Type I error: Reject Ho when Ho is true
Type II error: Fail to reject Ho when Ho is false

Truth about the population

Ho is True Ho is False
Decision Reject Ho Type I error = 𝜶 Correct decision
based on
Do not reject Ho Correct decision Type II error = 𝜷
sample
4 steps to Hypothesis testing
➢ Step 1: State the hypothesis
➢ Step 2: Set the criteria for a decision (𝜶)
➢ Step 3: Compute the test statistic and corresponding P-value
➢ Step 4: Make a decision
Step 1: State the hypothesis
❖ Ho: Smoking not related to lung cancer
❖ H1: Smoking related to lung cancer
Step 2: Set the criteria for a
decision (𝜶)
➢ Level of confidence: how confident are we in our decision
C = 95% or 99%
➢ Level of significance: 𝜶 = 1 – C
𝜶 = 0.05
=> C = 0.95 => 𝜶 = 1 – 0.95 = 0.05
C = 0.99 => 𝜶 = 0.01
Step 3: Compute the test statistic
and corresponding P-value
➢ P-value: The probability of obtaining a sample mean, given that the
value stated in the null hypothesis is true.
➢ P-value: xác xuất có thể quan sát được vấn đề nghiên cứu trong mẫu
nghiên cứu khi giả thuyết vô hiệu Ho là đúng.
➢ P-value: is a probability
➢ It varies between 0 and 1 (0% - 100%) and can never be negative.
Step 4: Make a decision
➢ P-value ≤ 𝛼 0.05 ⇒ 𝑅𝑒𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝐻𝑜
➢ P-value > 𝛼 0.05 ⇒ 𝐹𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝐻𝑜
➢ The decision to reject or retain Ho is called significance
Figure: A summary of hypothesis testing