A Step-by-Step Approach to Using SAS® for Univariate & Multivariate Statistics, Second Edition

Hypothesis Testing

Most of the procedures described in this text are inferential procedures that allow you to test specific hypotheses about the characteristics of populations. As an illustration, consider the simple experiment described earlier in which 50 agents were assigned to a difficult-goal condition and 50 other agents to an easy-goal condition. After one year, the agents with difficult goals had sold an average of $156,000 worth of insurance while the agents with easy goals had sold $121,000 worth. On the surface, this would seem to support your hypothesis that difficult goals cause agents to sell more insurance. But can you be sure of this? Even if goal setting had no effect at all, you would not really expect the two groups of 50 ...