In scientific research, the null hypothesis is the claim that no relationship exists between two sets of

data or variables being analyzed. The null hypothesis is that any experimentally observed difference

is due to chance alone, and an underlying causative relationship does not exist, hence the term

"null." A null hypothesis is a type of statistical hypothesis that proposes that no statistical

significance exists in a set of given observations. Hypothesis testing is used to assess the

credibility of a hypothesis by using sample data. For example, a study assesses the relationship

between screen time and test performance. The null states that there is no correlation between

this pair of variables. As screen time increases, test performance does not tend to increase or

decrease. Null Hypothesis H0: The correlation in the population is zero: ρ = 0. The null

hypothesis basically states that there are no statistically significant differences between two or

more experimental or control groups. By contrast, the alternative hypothesis indicates that

statistically significant differences occur between two or more experimental or control groups.

The typical approach for testing a null hypothesis is to select a statistic based on a sample of

fixed size, calculate the value of the statistic for the sample and then reject the null hypothesis if

and only if the statistic falls in the critical region.