8.2 - The basic methodology of hypothesis testing

The conceptual nature of a hypothesis test enables us to see how one is conducted. Like statistical estimation, the key to the method lies in sampling distributions. We'll have a look at how sampling distributions are used in a hypothesis test in this section, before moving on to the more rigorous methodology in the next section.

In this section we will look at the basic methodology of a hypothesis test, and what makes it different to a confidence interval estimate.

Learning objectives

In this section you will learn about:

  1. the assumption that is made at the beginning of a hypothesis test
  2. what we do when working under this assumption throughout a hypothesis test
  3. what this assumption means in relation to sampling distributions
  4. collecting a sample to use as evidence against this assumption
  5. the fundamental differences between a hypothesis test and a confidence interval estimation