Chapter 1
Statistical hypothesis testing
1.1 Theory of statistical hypothesis testing
Hypothesis testing is a key tool in statistical inference next to point estimation and confidence sets. All three concepts make an inference about a population based on a sample taken from it. Hypothesis testing aims at a decision on whether or not a hypothesis on the nature of the population is supported by the sample.
In the following we shortly run through the steps of a statistical test procedure and introduce the notation used throughout this book. For a detailed mathematical explanation please refer to the book by Lehmann (1997).
We denote a sample of size
by
, where the
are observations of identically independently distributed random variables
,
. Usually some further assumptions are needed concerning the nature of the mechanism generating the sample. These can be rather general assumptions like a symmetric continuous distribution. Often a parametric distribution is assumed with only parameter ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access