Biostatistics-[A]

NULL AND ALTERNATIVE VARIABLE

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Content:
Terms Recap
• Hypothesis Testing:
• Null hypothesis and the Alternative hypothis
• Z-Test
• Condition of Z-test
• Class small test

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 Terms Should Remember
Population  all possible values
Sample  a portion of the population
Statistical inference  generalizing from a sample to a population with
calculated degree of certainty
Two forms of statistical inference
1. Hypothesis testing
2. Estimation
Parameter  a characteristic of population,
e.g., Population mean µ
Statistic  calculated from data in the sample,
e.g., Sample mean x)

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 Hypothesis Tests
 Hypothesis testing is a technique to
help determine whether a specific
population.
 The hypothesis test is used to
evaluate the results from a research
study in which
 A sample is selected from the
population.
 The treatment is administered to
the sample.
 After treatment, the individuals in
the sample are measured.

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Hypothesis Tests (Cont’d)

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Distinctions Between Parameters and Statistics

Parameters Statistics

Source Population Sample

Notation Greek (e.g., μ) Roman (e.g., xbar)

Vary No Yes

Calculated No Yes

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 Sample Distribution of Mean (SDM)
The sampling distributions of a mean (SDM) describes the
behavior of a sampling mean

x ~ N  , SE x 

where SE x 
n

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 Hypothesis Testing (Cont’d)
 Is also called significance testing
 Tests a claim about a parameter using evidence (data in a
sample)
 The technique is introduced by considering a one-sample z
test (Sample < 30) and T test (Sample >30)
 The procedure is broken into four steps
I. Null and alternative hypotheses
II. Test statistic
III. P-value and interpretation
IV. Significance level (optional)

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 Null and Alternative Hypotheses
Convert the research question to null and alternative
hypotheses

1. The null hypothesis (H0) is a claim of “no difference in the

population”
2. The alternative hypothesis (Ha) claims “H0 is false”

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 Example: “Body Weight”
The problem: In the 1970s, 20–29 year old men in the U.S. had a
mean μ body weight of 170 pounds. Standard deviation σ was 40
pounds. We test whether mean body weight in the population now
differs.

Null hypothesis H0: μ = 170 (“no difference”)

The alternative hypothesis can be either

Ha: μ > 170 (one-sided test) or
Ha: μ ≠ 170 (two-sided test)

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 Example: “Body Weight”
The problem: In the 1970s, 20–29 year old men in the U.S. had a
mean μ body weight of 170 pounds. Standard deviation σ was 40
pounds. We test whether mean body weight in the population now
differs.

Null hypothesis H0: μ = 170 (“no difference”)

The alternative hypothesis can be either

Ha: μ > 170 (one-sided test) or
Ha: μ ≠ 170 (two-sided test)

This is an example of a one-sample test of a mean when σ is known.

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 Example: Test Statistic (Cont’d)
The problem: In the 1970s, 20–29 year old men in the U.S. had a mean μ
body weight of 170 pounds. Standard deviation σ was 40 pounds. We test
whether mean body weight in the population now differs.
 As this is an example of a one-sample test of a mean when σ is known.
We can use following statistics to test the problem:

x  0
z stat 
SE x
where  0  population mean assuming H 0 is true

and SE x 
n

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 Example: Test Statistic (Cont’d)
For the illustrative example, we know μ0 = 170 and also know σ = 40
Take an SRS of n = 64. Therefore

 40
SE x   5
n 64
e.g., if we found a sample mean of 173, then

x   0 173  170
z stat    0.60
SE x 5
Again, if we found a sample mean of 185, then calculate the above test
again and say what is the results?
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Example: Test Statistic (Cont’d)

The result is as follows

x   0 185  170
z stat    3.00
SE x 5

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 Interpretation

 P-value answer the question: What is the probability of

the observed test statistic … when H0 is true?
 Thus, smaller and smaller P-values provide stronger and
stronger evidence against H0
 Small P-value  strong evidence

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 Interpretation (Cont’d)

Conventions*
P > 0.10  non-significant evidence against H0
0.05 < P  0.10  marginally significant evidence
0.01 < P  0.05  significant evidence against H0
P  0.01  highly significant evidence against H0

Examples
P =.27  non-significant evidence against H0
P =.01  highly significant evidence against

* It is unwise to draw firm borders for “significance”

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Thank You
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