Stat 1000: OMIT Lesson 10 in my book, but do Lesson 11

Published: Fri, 04/07/17

Omit Lesson 10 in my book, but do Lesson 11
Do not confuse their unit numbers with my lesson numbers.  For example, their Unit 10 has already been taught in my Lessons 8 and 9.  They wait until unit 10 to introduce confidence intervals and hypothesis testing with t.  I totally disagree with that approach.  I think you should learn how to do confidence intervals and hypothesis tests with z or t concurrently, thus also gaining an understanding of why one question uses z and the other uses t.

They have completely cut out the topics discussed in Lesson 10 of my book this year, so do not waste your time studying that part.  However, all of Lesson 11 is included on the exam, so do make sure that you study that lesson thoroughly.  Do note that all the key formulas in Lesson 11 are on your formula sheet.
Grant's Revised Steps to Test Hypotheses

Important Note:  Unlike what I instruct in my book, make sure that you compute a P-value every single time that you perform a hypothesis test.  They have decided to not teach about critical values this term, so there is no need to use Table D to get z* or t*, the critical value, for any hypothesis test. (You will, of course, still use z* or t* for confidence intervals.) 


Because you are not using critical values, it therefore becomes essential to compute a P-value. 

Your five steps to test a hypothesis should now always be:

  1. State the Hypotheses and so establish whether the test is upper-tailed, lower-tailed, or two-tailed.
  2. State the given level of significance, alpha.  Let alpha = 5% if none is given.
  3. Compute the test statistic using the correct formula for z or t.
  4. Compute the P-value by marking the test statistic on a bell curve and shading the appropriate region according to your alternative hypothesis.
  5. State your conclusion knowing that you always reject Ho if the P-value < alpha.