8.1 Quick revision

We strongly recommend trying these Quick revision questions before your tutorial.

Hypothesis tests are used to prove or disprove the null hypothesis. True or false?
Hypothesis are always written in terms of population parameters. True or false?
Alternative hypotheses may be one- or two-tailed, depending on the data. True or false?
Hypotheses should be constructed without any knowledge of the data. True or false?

FALSE. Hypothesis testing does not prove anything; we cannot prove anything about the population by studying just one of the many possible samples. In loose terms, a hypothesis test quantifies how much evidence there is in the sample to support the alternative hypothesis about the population.
TRUE. Hypothesis are always about the unknown population parameters.
FALSE. Alternative hypotheses may be one- or two-tailed, but it does not depend on the data; it depends on the RQ.