Types of Errors Transcript

Hi everyone, my name is Noor and today I'll be presenting on types of errors.

First let's go over the null hypothesis because this is important to understand the types of error. A
null hypothesis assumes there is no relationship between variables. For example, I work in the
operating room as a nurse circulator. A patient presents to preop with a cough. My hypothesis is
that the surgery will be cancelled due to the presenting symptoms; and the null hypothesis would
be the cough has no effect on the surgery occurring. Keep this example in mind as we move
along.
There are four possible outcomes of hypothesis testing they’ll occur depending on if you accept
or reject the null hypothesis. The first option is if you accept the null hypothesis when it's true;
this results in a correct decision, meaning no relationship exists. The second is if you reject the
null hypothesis when it's true; this will result in a Type I error or a false positive. The third
option is if you accept the null hypothesis when it's false; this will result in a Type II error or a
false negative. And the last option is if you reject the null hypothesis when it's false; this will
result in a correct decision meaning a relationship exists.
So again, a Type I error is when you reject the null hypothesis when it's actually true. In other
words, you see there is a relationship when there isn't one. Referring to our example, our null
hypothesis was the cough had no effect on the surgery being cancelled. The Type I error would
occur if we assumed that the cough will cause the surgery to be cancelled when it would not.
This may occur if the patient’s cough is not actually harmful; it would cause the surgery to be
postponed unnecessarily.
The Type II error would occur if we failed to reject the null hypothesis when we should reject it.
You think there's no relationship when there actually is. A Type II error may occur if we don't
think the patient's cough has an effect on the surgery being cancelled. Maybe we think the cough
is not harmful when it actually is.
Now that we understand the two types of errors, let's compare them. Typically, Type I errors are
more serious than Type II errors. This is because in a Type I error, you're typically implementing
a change that is not necessary thus spending time, money and resources unnecessarily. Type II
errors can sometimes result because of a lack of confidence in the hypothesis that prevents the
researcher from seeing a relationship between their variables of question. In summary, a Type I
error is when you see a change or relationship when there is not, and a Type II error is when you
don't see the change or relationship when there is one.
This topic may have been very confusing, but now you should be pros at telling the difference
between Type I and Type II errors.
Thank you for listening.