We were introduced to hypothesis testing. We will continue our study this week. Hypothesis testing is very similar to a criminal trial, where a jury must use evidence to decide which of 2 possibilities is the truth: innocence (H0) or guilt (HA).

In your initial post, address the following prompts:

• Describe a hypothesis test study that would help your work or conclusions in some way.
• Describe what variable would be tested and what would be your guess of the value of that variable.
• Discuss how the result, if the null was rejected or not, might change your conclusions or actions in some way.

Instructor Example:

Teas made with ingredients such as chamomile, spearmint, and lemongrass are becoming more and more popular as a relaxing bedtime drink.

Perhaps you'd like to test the powers of Sleepytime tea. Your hypothesis might go something like this:

• Null hypothesis - Sleepytime tea has no effect on people's ability to fall asleep.
• Alternative hypothesis - Sleepytime tea helps people to fall asleep.
• Significance level - The significance level is 0.20 (allowing for a better shot at proving your alternative hypothesis).
• P-value - The p-value is calculated as 0.05.

Conclusion - After providing one group with Sleepytime tea and the other with a placebo drink, you gauge the difference between the two based on self-reported levels of anxiety. Based on your calculations, the difference between the two groups is statistically significant with a p-value of 0.05, well below the defined alpha of 0.20. You conclude that your study supports the alternative hypothesis that Sleepytime tea can help people fall asleep.