8.5 - Hypothesis testing for population parameters

Now that we've developed a step-by-step guide for conducting a hypothesis test and seen some of the considerations that arise for such tests, let's have a look at hypothesis tests in action. This will help to reinforce the methods and issues inherent in the tests but will also allow us to see any concerns that are specific to particular tests.

In this section we will see examples of hypothesis tests for the population proportion, for the population mean when the standard deviation is known, and for the population mean when the standard deviation is not known.

Learning objectives

In this section you will learn about:

  1. the sort of situation in which it is appropriate to test a mean
  2. the effect of whether or not the standard deviation is known on hypothesis testing the mean
  3. the sort of situation in which it is appropriate to test a proportion
  4. conducting a hypothesis test in a variety of situations