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Alternative hypothesis

By Jim Frost

The alternative hypothesis is one of two mutually exclusive hypotheses in a hypothesis test. The alternative hypothesis states that a population parameter does not equal a specified value. Typically, this value is the null hypothesis value associated with no effect, such as zero. If your sample contains sufficient evidence, you can reject the null hypothesis and favor the alternative hypothesis. The alternative hypothesis is often denoted as H1 or HA.

If you are performing a two-tailed hypothesis test, the alternative hypothesis states that the population parameter does not equal the null hypothesis value. For example, when the alternative hypothesis is HA: μ ≠ 0, the test can detect differences both greater than and less than the null value.

A one-tailed alternative hypothesis can test for a difference only in one direction. For example, HA: μ > 0 can only test for differences that are greater than zero.

Related

Related Articles:
  • How Hypothesis Tests Work: Significance Levels (Alpha) and P values
  • How to Identify the Distribution of Your Data
  • When Can I Use One-Tailed Hypothesis Tests?
  • Examples of Hypothesis Tests: Busting Myths about the Battle of the Sexes
  • Failing to Reject the Null Hypothesis

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