Lesson 1

The Null and

Alternative
Hypotheses
 Objectives

At the end of this lesson, the learner should be able to

● properly define hypothesis testing;

● appropriately state null and alternative hypotheses in
words and symbols.
● properly define a right-tailed, left-tailed, and two-tailed
test; and
● correctly determine whether a right-tailed, left-tailed, or
two-tailed test is to be used for a certain situation
Learn about It!

Hypothesis Testing
1 a statistical method of using sample data to determine the probability that a given
hypothesis about the population is true.

Steps in Hypothesis Testing:

a. Formulate the null and alternative hypotheses
b. Determine the level of significance
c. Calculate the test statistic and identify the rejection region
d. Make a decision
e. Draw a conclusion
Hypothesis – an assumption or conjecture about a
population parameter which may or may not be true.
Examples:
1. Does the mean height of Grade 11 students differ
from 6.6 inches?
2. Is the proportion of senior male student’s height
significantly higher than the senior female
students?
 Learn about It!

2 Statistical Hypothesis
a statement about a population parameter. The claim is usually expressed in terms of
the value of a parameter.

Example:

The daily mean number of patients in an emergency room is

74.
 Learn about It!

3 Null Hypothesis
the hypothesis that is assumed to be true. It uses a relation symbol with a
statement of equality, such as and , and is denoted by .

 It is the initial claim

 It shows no significant difference, no changes, nothing
happened, no relationship between two parameters.
 The independent variable has no effect on the dependent
variable.
: = ,: ,:
 Learn about It!

3 Null Hypothesis
the hypothesis that is assumed to be true. It uses a relation symbol with a
statement of equality, such as and , and is denoted by .

Example:

The average life expectancy of females is the same as the

average life expectancy of males. ()
 Learn about It!

4 Alternative Hypothesis
the hypothesis that is contrary to the null hypothesis. It uses a relation symbol with
no statement of equality, such as and , and is denoted by .

 It is the contrary to the null hypothesis

 It shows that there is significant difference, an effect,
change, relationship between a parameter and specific
value
 The independent variable has an effect on the dependent
variable
:,:,:
 Learn about It!

4 Alternative Hypothesis
the hypothesis that is contrary to the null hypothesis. It uses a relation symbol with
no statement of equality, such as and , and is denoted by .

Example:

The average life expectancy of females is different from the

average life expectancy of males. (
Null Hypothesis,
= equal to, the same as, not changed from, is
≥ at least
≤ at most
Alternative Hypothesis, or
not equal, different from, changed from, not the same as
> greater than, above, higher than, longer than, bigger than,

increased
< less than, below, lower than, smaller than, shorter than,
decreased or reduced from
State the Null Hypothesis and Alternative Hypothesis for
each statement

Example 1: The average age of bus drivers in Metro Manila is

38.8 years.

≠ 38.8 years
State the Null Hypothesis and Alternative Hypothesis for
each statement

Example 2: The average number of a low-calorie meal is at

most 300.

> 300
Example 3: The school record claims that the mean score in
Math of the incoming Grade 11 students is 81. The teacher
wishes to find out if the mean is true. She tests if there is
significant difference between the batch mean score and the
mean score of students in her class
Null and Alternative Null and Alternative
Hypotheses in words Hypotheses in symbol
: The mean score in Math of
the incoming Grade 11 is 81.
:The mean score in Math of ≠ 81
the incoming Grade 11 is
not 81.
Example 4: A social worker wants to test (at α = 0.05) whether
the average body mass index (BMI) of the pupils under feeding
program is different from 18.2 kg.

Null and Alternative Null and Alternative

Hypotheses in words Hypotheses in symbol
:The average body mass
index (BMI) of the pupils
under feeding program is
not different from 18.2 kg.
: The average body mass ≠ 18.2
index (BMI) of the pupils
under feeding program is
different from 18.2 kg.
Example 5: A DTI representative wants to test at 99%
confidence level whether the average content of Soda X is less
than 330 ml indicated in the label.

Null and Alternative Null and Alternative

Hypotheses in words Hypotheses in symbol
: The average content of
Soda X is greater than or
equal to 330 ml.
: The average content of < 330
Soda X is less than 330 ml.
Example 6: A student researcher wants to test
his assumption that 75% of the senior high
school students who enrolled in the academic
track wanted to become a teacher. He collected
samples randomly and found out that 25 out of
130 students are planning to become a teacher.
State the null and alternative hypotheses.
Null and Alternative Null and Alternative
Hypotheses in words Hypotheses in symbol
: The proportion of senior high
school students enrolled in the
academic track who wanted to
become a teacher is equal to
75%.
: The proportion of senior high 0.75
school students enrolled in the
academic track who wanted to
become a teacher is not equal
to 75%.
 TEST YOURSELF! (State the Null Hypothesis and
Alternative Hypothesis in words and in symbol)

In 2015, it was recorded that around 34% of the

population in 2015 were not married. A researcher
surveyed a random sample of 500 couples. He
found that 18% of them were living together but
unmarried. Test at 5% significance level if the
current percentage of unmarried couples is
different from 34%.
TEST YOURSELF! (State the Null Hypothesis and
Alternative Hypothesis in words and in symbol)

A manufacturer of IT gadgets recently

announced they had developed a new battery
for a tablet and claimed that it has an average
life of at least 24 hours.
TEST YOURSELF! (State the Null Hypothesis and
Alternative Hypothesis in words and in symbol)

We want to test whether the general

average of students in Math is different from
80%.
TEST YOURSELF! (State the Null Hypothesis and
Alternative Hypothesis in words and in symbol)

The Senior High School researchers claim that

more than 20% of Senior High School male
students have tried smoking cigarette. After
collecting 150 random samples, they found that 60
of them have tried smoking cigarette.
TEST YOURSELF! (State the Null Hypothesis and
Alternative Hypothesis in words and in symbol)

In a certain town, a school principal hypothesized that

students enroll in schools within 5 km from their
homes. To check this claim you ask 38 students from
the said town. You found out that the average
distance between the students’ home and their
schools is 5.6 km.
Learn about It!

5 Directional Test of Hypothesis or One-tailed Test

a type of hypothesis test that makes use of only one side or tail of the distribution.
It can either be a right-tailed or left-tailed test.
Learn about It!

6 Right-tailed Test
a type of directional test of hypothesis or one-tailed test that is used when an
assertion is made that the parameter falls within the positive end of the
distribution. In a right-tailed test, the alternative hypothesis uses comparatives
such as greater than, higher than, better than, superior to, exceeds, above, increased,
etc.
 Learn about It!

Example:

The mean number of hours students spend studying after

school is at most 2.5 hours. (

The mean number of hours students spend studying after

school is greater than 2.5 hours. (
Learn about It!

7 Left-tailed Test
a type of directional test of hypothesis or one-tailed test that is used when an
assertion is made that the parameter falls within the negative end of the
distribution. In a left-tailed test, the alternative hypothesis uses comparatives such
as less than, smaller than, inferior to, lower than, below, decreased, etc.
 Learn about It!

Example:

The mean number of hours students spend studying after

school is at least 2.5 hours. ()

The mean number of hours students spend studying after

school is less than 2.5 hours. ()
 Non-directional Test of Hypothesis
8 Learn about It!
or Two-tailed Test
a type of hypothesis test that makes use of two opposite sides or tails of the
distribution. It is used when no assertion is made on whether the parameter falls
within the positive or negative end of the distribution. In a two-tailed test, the
alternative hypothesis uses comparatives such as not equal to, different from, not
the same as, etc.
 Learn about It!

Example:

The mean number of hours students spend studying after

school is equal to 2.5 hours. ()

The mean number of hours students spend studying after

school is not 2.5 hours. ()
 Learn about It!

9 Level of Significance
the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis in favor of the alternative
hypothesis when it is really true, denoted by

In hypothesis testing, the researcher decides what level of

significance to use at the beginning of the test. Conventional
significance levels such as 5%, 1%, and 10% are frequently
used in hypothesis testing because of the desire to maintain a
low probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is
actually true.
 Learn about It!

Example:

A significance level of means that there is a 5% chance of

rejecting a true null hypothesis. In other words, we are 95%
confident that a right decision is made.
 Learn about It!

10 Rejection Region
refers to the region under the normal curve where the value of
the test statistic lies for which the null hypothesis will be
rejected. This region is sometimes called critical region.
 Rejection
Learn about Region
It!
10 -the set of values in which the null hypothesis is rejected
-there is a line that separates the rejection region from the
non-rejection region denoted by 1 – α (acceptance region).
This line passes through the confidence coefficients, which
are also called critical values.
11Learn
CRITICAL
about VALUES
It!
Learn about It!
Learn about It!
Learn about It!
Learn about It!
 Learn about It!

A. Tell whether each situation calls for a two

– tailed or one – tailed test.

1. A school nurse believe that 5% of the Grade 7

students have below normal Body Mass Index (BMI)
and should undergo a feeding program. After making a
survey, she found that 18 of 210 randomly selected
students have below normal BMI.
 Learn about It!

2. The Senior High School researchers claim that

more than 20% of Senior High School male students
have tried smoking cigarette. After collecting 150
random samples, they found that 30 of them have tried
smoking cigarette.
 Learn about It!

3. A researcher claims that 50% of the rats in the

locality are male. After randomly collecting
sufficient amount of samples, he found that the
proportion of male rats in the population of rats is
35%. Test the claim at 95% confidence level.
 Learn about It!

4. A teacher wants to test his assumption that

less than 30% of the Senior High School
students like research class. After randomly
collecting 150 samples, he found out that only 40
students like their research class.
 Learn about It!

B. For each situation, compare the computed value with the critical
value by writing the appropriate comparison symbol on the box
and tell the location of z whether it is in the rejection or acceptance
region.
Key Points

Hypothesis Testing
1 a statistical method of using sample data to determine the probability that a given
hypothesis about the population is true

Steps in Hypothesis Testing:

a. Formulate the null and alternative hypotheses.
b. Determine the level of significance.
c. Calculate the test statistic and identify the rejection region.
d. Make a decision.
e. Draw a conclusion.
Key Points

2 Statistical Hypothesis
a statement about a population parameter

3 Null Hypothesis
the hypothesis that is assumed to be true. It uses a relation symbol with a
statement of equality, such as and , and is denoted by .

4 Alternative Hypothesis
the hypothesis that is contrary to the null hypothesis. It uses a relation symbol with
no statement of equality, such as and , and is denoted by .
Key Points

5 Directional Test of Hypothesis or One-tailed Test

a type of hypothesis test that makes use of only one side or tail of the distribution.
It can either be a right-tailed or left-tailed test.

6 Right-tailed Test
a type of directional test of hypothesis or one-tailed test that is used when an
assertion is made that the parameter falls within the positive end of the
distribution. In a right-tailed test, the alternative hypothesis uses comparatives
such as greater than, higher than, better than, superior to, exceeds, above, increased,
etc.
Key Points

7 Left-tailed Test
a type of directional test of hypothesis or one-tailed test that is used when an
assertion is made that the parameter falls within the negative end of the
distribution. In a left-tailed test, the alternative hypothesis uses comparatives such
as less than, smaller than, inferior to, lower than, below, decreased, etc.

8 Non-directional Test of Hypothesis

or Two-tailed Test
a type of hypothesis test that makes use of two opposite sides or tails of the
distribution. It is used when no assertion is made on whether the parameter falls
within the positive or negative end of the distribution. In a two-tailed test, the
alternative hypothesis uses comparatives such as not equal to, different from, not
the same as, etc.
Key Points

9 Level of Significance
the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis in favor of the alternative
hypothesis when it is really true, denoted by

10 Rejection Region
the set of values in which the null hypothesis is rejected