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Multiple Choice
Which of the following is the first step in the process of hypothesis testing?
A
Determine the level of significance.
B
Make a decision to reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis.
C
Calculate the test statistic.
D
State the null and alternative hypotheses.
Verified step by step guidance
1
Understand that hypothesis testing is a structured process used to make decisions or inferences about a population based on sample data.
The first step in hypothesis testing is to clearly state the null hypothesis (H₀) and the alternative hypothesis (H₁). The null hypothesis typically represents the status quo or no effect, while the alternative hypothesis represents the claim or effect being tested.
Ensure that the null and alternative hypotheses are mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive, meaning they cover all possible outcomes and cannot both be true simultaneously.
After defining the hypotheses, proceed to determine the level of significance (α), which represents the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is actually true. Common values for α are 0.05 or 0.01.
Once the hypotheses and significance level are established, the next steps involve collecting data, calculating the test statistic, and making a decision to reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis based on the evidence.