What are tips on how to set up a null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis? The best guidelines I found from the manual that I use. (Note that these are only guidelines, and some teachers or manuals use different rules.)
"The null hypothesis (denoted H0) is a statement that the value of a population parameter (such as proportion, average or standard deviation) is _equal to_, according to some value.
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"The alternative hypothesis (H1 or designated by Ha HA) is the statement that the parameter has a value that differs somewhat from the null hypothesis. For the methods of this chapter, the symbolic form of the alternative hypothesis must use one of these symbols or <or> a‰ .
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"A Note to always use the equality symbol in H0: Some textbooks use the symbols a‰¤ and a‰¥ in the null hypothesis H0, but most journals use only the equality symbol for equality.
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"Note on the formation of your own claims (hypotheses): If you make a study and want to use a hypothesis test to _support_ your request, the claim must be worded so that it becomes the alternative hypothesis ( and can be expressed using only the symbols <or> or a‰ ). We can never justify a claim that some parameter is to_ _equal a specified value. "
- "Basic Statistics" Ed tenth., By Mario F. Triola.
Note that if you test the claim of someone else, it can be expressed as an equality or inequality. Write the symbolic form, and write it in the face in a symbolic form. (If it's really the opposite, exactly one of two states must contain equality.) Choose the statement of equality to the null hypothesis, and the other is the alternative hypothesis. (This is also according to the methods of this work in particular.)
Posted on May 18, 2010.
