Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
main source: Vernoy & Vernoy (1997) & Falik & Brown (1983)
Suppose that I have run a wellwell-controlled and wellwelldesigned experiment and I observed a notable
difference in behavior between the groups (ie.
samples). Is it valid to draw a direct generalization
of my findings to the entire population?
1 = 2
H1 : 1 < 2
or
H1 : 1 > 2
Strong Notes: H0 and H1 may involve statistical indexes other than means (refer to examples)!!
1 = 2
H0 :
1 = 2 = 2
H0 :
1 = 2
XYAsians XYEuropeans
The Experiment:
Experiment
Two groups of subjects are experimented to see the effects of
rehearsal of faces once every hour via mental imagery (this is
called facial memory). One group of subjects practice the
rehearsal while the other dont. A test of facial memory are
conducted 8 hours later to check the facial memory of the
bj t
subjects.
The Hypotheses:
Hypotheses
Ho :
H1 :
The Experiment:
Two groups of subjects are experimented to
see the effects of rehearsal of faces once
every hour via mental imagery. One group
of subject practice the rehearsal while the
other dont. A test of facial memory are
conducted 8 hours later to check the facial
j
memoryy of the subjects.
The Hypotheses:
Ho: There is no real difference between
subjects who use mental imagery and
those who do not.
H, :
You will be CORRECT if you reject the null hypothesis when it is in reality
false or if you fail to reject it when it is in reality true.
However, if you decide to reject the null hypothesis when it is actually true
(you accept a false research hypothesis), you will have committed to an
error called a Type I error (the probablility is symbolized as ).
If you fail to reject the null hypothesis when it is actually false (you fail to
accept a true research hypothesis), again you will have committed to an
error called a Type II error (the probablility is symbolized as ).
Strong Notes:
It is imperative that researchers take great pains to avoid making these errors,
particularly Type I errors.
errors When researchers accept research hypotheses that are
in truth false, they can mislead not only themselves and other researchers but
also people who apply the research results to the real world.
If Type I errors are committed in a series of learning studies and if the results are
applied to the classroom, countless hours of learning time may be wasted. Thus,
Type I errors are considered to be much more serious than Type II errors.
errors
When a Type II error is made because a researcher fails to reject the null
hypothesis when the research hypothesis is actually true, the researcher or some
other researcher may have to repeat the experiment, for a variation of it,
sometime in the future. This may result in lost time, but it will not result in
fallacious theories being implemented in the real world. Type II errors may slow
g
y don't lead it down blind alleys.
y
down the p
progress
of science,, but they
Actually, if researchers select the appropriate statistical tests (the most widely
used tests are explained in the following chapters) and apply their results to the
tests correctly, the chance of committing a Type I error is very small (about 0.05
or 5 out of 100). The purpose of these tests is to determine whether the statistical
differences recorded among the sample groups are significant.
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Questions::
Questions
How far out in the tail should the sample mean lie before Ho
can be rejected?
How much of a chance do researchers want to take that
they will not commit a Type I error?
Answer:
Mostt psychologists
M
h l i t agree that
th t an levell off 0.05
0 05 (or
(
simply = 0.05
05) is reasonable, which means that
the null hypothesis can reasonably be rejected if
there is less than 0.05 probability of committing a
Type I error. Therefore, the levels should be set at
the points in the tails where only 5% (0.05) of the
distribution will yield more extreme scores. If a
particular sample mean falls within these areas of
the curve, we can reject Ho (see Fig. 10).
ONE--TAILED HYPOTHESES
ONE
The decision to spread the areas
between the two tails of the distribution or
to concentrate all of the area in only one
tail of the distribution depends on the
research hypothesis.
If the research hypothesis specifies that the
sample mean will definitely be above or
definitely be below the population mean, it
is of course reasonable to look in only one
tail of the theoretical sampling distribution
to see whether the sample mean is
significant. For example, if our research
hypothesis states that eating chocolate will
improve memory, then we only need to look
in the tail above the population mean for
significance.
significance
Research hypotheses that specify the
direction of the experimental effect are
called one
one--tailed hypotheses because we
need to look in only the one specified tail
for significance. Tests of hypotheses such
as these are called one
one--tailed tests (see
Fig. 11).
Fig.
Fi 11
The
Th placement
l
t off areas for
f (a
( and
d b) a
one-tailed test and (c) a two-tailed test. If
a sample mean falls within the area, we
can reject the null hypothesis.
10
TWO--TAILED HYPOTHESES
TWO
Many research hypotheses suggest
merely that the sample mean will be
different from the population mean
without specifying the direction of the
difference. Because the direction is
specified it is necessary to look in
not specified,
both tails of the theoretical sampling
distribution for significance (see Fig.
12). Tests of hypotheses such as
these are known as two
two--tailed tests
tests.
As an example, if our research
hypothesis states that a diet including
chocolate changes a person's
memory for faces
faces, it is not clear
whether this change is for the better
or for the worse. Since the hypothesis
does not specify the direction of the
change, it is a twotwo-tailed hypothesis
hypothesis.
Example:.
If you know that caffeine aids
memory, you can hypothesize that
people who use caffeine before
taking a memory test will perform
better than people who do not use
caffeine. This hypothesis leads to a
one--tailed test because the
one
prediction is that one group will
perform better than the other group.
11
Eg. 1:
Using Table z, identify the critical values need for rejection
of the null hypothesis under the following conditions:
Directionality
one-tailed
two-tailed
0.10
0.15
0.001
source: Fallik & Brown (1983) p 322 Pr10 Pr 15
12
Eg. 2:
A group of 36 students were selected to undergo a special program
claimed to be effective maths learning program. At the end of one-year
program, their maths performance is then measured using a math test,
which gives mean of 67 marks. It is assumed that mean and standard
deviation of the maths test scores of the whole population are 45 and 16
respectively. Run a suitable test to see if the test actually has assisted
this
hi group off llearners to llearn maths
h more effectively
ff i l as compared
d with
ih
the whole population.
a. State all assumptions required before you can run the z-test.
b. State the nul and alternative . Run the hypothesis testing using
= 0.01
c. Determine the minimum score of the maths test which defines the
cut-off value for the test to be significantly effective in assisting
this group of learners in the maths learning as compared to the
whole population at = 0.01
13
14
15