Hypothesis Testing - 1 - Research Aptitude Notes

Hypothesis Testing

• When direct observation shows that the supposed cause exists where it was thought to exist, we have a direct verification.
• When a hypothesis is verified by an experiment in a laboratory it is called direct verification by experiment.

Testing Complex Hypothesis:

• A complex hypothesis cannot be tested directly. When the hypothesis is not amenable for direct verification, we have to depend on indirect verification. Indirect verification or testing is a process in which certain possible consequences are deduced from the hypothesis and they are then verified directly.
• In order to test the hypothesis in terms of deduced consequences, it is necessary to collect evidence by selecting or developing data collecting tools to analyse the data collection, and then to interpret results in the light of the hypothesis and its deduced consequences. 
• The necessary conditions for confirmation are:
  (i) all factual evidence collected through tests or other means (tools) should correspond with the deduced consequences;
  (ii) the data-collecting tools should take into account all factors and conditions that are suggested by the consequences;
  (iii) the consequences are logically deduced from the hypothesis

Lets's check out this example:-  Suppose the researcher wants to test the hypothesis:

• This hypothesis cannot be tested directly by the researcher. He has to proceed indirectly by deducing the consequences that:
• “ineffective college principals will have a low level of job satisfaction as compared to that of effective principals.”
• In this way, the researcher does not test the hypothesis but tests the deduced consequences of the hypothesis. 
• Once all the deduced consequences after testing come out to be true, the hypothesis is confirmed.
• If some of the consequences are true and / some others are not, the hypothesis needs to be examined afresh.