Hypothesis testing with inferential statistical tests

Question 1

define research question

Answer 1

question based on the aim of the study
e.g. Is there an association between students’ attendance and their assignment marks?

Question 2

define null hypothesis

Answer 2

hypothesis that claims no difference in the variables
this is the hypothesis that is being tested
e.g. That there is no association between the concepts in our research question

Question 3

define alternate hypothesis

Answer 3

hypothesis that claims there is a difference in the variables
e.g. That there is an association between concepts in our research question

Question 4

what do researchers aim to do with these hypotheses?

Answer 4

try to reject the null hypothesis
accept the alternative hypothesis
this is called falsification

Question 5

what is a normal distribution?

Answer 5

• This is a special spread – or “distribution” - of scores that comes from using a continuous measure
• We can check that our data has this spread of scores visually with Histograms
• Many continuous measures in nature look like this. E.g. Height, Weight, Sleep Duration, IQ scores.
• Bell-shaped curve