Answer:
State the hypotheses. We begin by stating the value of a population mean
in a null hypothesis, which we presume is true. For the children watching TV
example, we state the null hypothesis that children in the United States watch an
average of 3 hours of TV per week. This is a starting point so that we can decide
whether this is likely to be true, similar to the presumption of innocence in a
courtroom. When a defendant is on trial, the jury starts by assuming that the
defendant is innocent. The basis of the decision is to determine whether this
assumption is true. Likewise, in hypothesis testing, we start by assuming that the
hypothesis or claim we are testing is true. This is stated in the null hypothesis. The
basis of the decision is to determine whether this assumption is likely to be true.Keep in mind that the only reason we are testing the null hypothesis is because
we think it is wrong. We state what we think is wrong about the null hypothesis in
an alternative hypothesis. For the children watching TV example, we may have
reason to believe that children watch more than (>) or less than (<) 3 hours of TV
per week. When we are uncertain of the direction, we can state that the value in the
null hypothesis is not equal to (≠) 3 hours.
In a courtroom, since the defendant is assumed to be innocent (this is the null
hypothesis so to speak), the burden is on a prosecutor to conduct a trial to show
evidence that the defendant is not innocent. In a similar way, we assume the null
hypothesis is true, placing the burden on the researcher to conduct a study to show
evidence that the null hypothesis is unlikely to be true. Regardless, we always make
a decision about the null hypothesis
Explanation:
