Introduction

In this topic, rather than testing for differences in means as we did via \(t\)-tests and ANOVA, we will be considering hypothesis tests for proportions. The types of questions that can be addressed with these types of tests include: is the proportion of left-handed people different from 10%? Or, has a particular intervention led to a significant difference in the proportion of premature births? Or, is the proportion of extroverts different from 50%?

As usual, we do not need to calculate the true population proportions to answer these questions. Rather, we can use sample data to calculate sample proportions, and then use these estimates to carry out hypothesis tests in order to draw inferences about the population proportions.

These notes have been prepared by Amanda J. Shaker. The copyright for the material in these notes resides with the author named above, with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and with La Trobe University. Copyright in this work is vested in La Trobe University including all La Trobe University branding and naming. Unless otherwise stated, material within this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Non Derivatives License CC BY-NC-ND