An introduction to hypothesis testing

This chapter considers the general principles behind hypothesis testing. There are six steps to follow in all hypothesis testing. The first is to confirm which distribution is the best one to use. Next, the chapter shows how to select and correctly phrase the hypotheses to be tested and determine which is/are the correct statistical test(s) to use. Afterwards, the calculated value of the test statistic must be worked out. The critical value of the test statistic is then found. The chapter also takes a look at whether or not to reject the null hypothesis depending on the rule relating to the critical and calculated test statistics. Finally, the chapter considers how to decide what the outcome of the statistical test means in terms of the biology of the system.