2. What is a hypothesis? What characteristics it must possess in order to be a good research hypothesis?
A manufacturer considers his production process to be working properly if the mean length of the rods
the manufactures is 8.5. The stundard deviation of the rods always runs about 0 26". Suppose a sample
of 64 rods is taken and this gives a mean length of rods equal to 8.6". What are the null and alternative
hypotheses for this problem? Can you infer at 5% level of significance that the process is working
properly?
Answers
Answer:
The hypothesis should be clear and precise to consider it to be reliable. If the hypothesis is a relational hypothesis, then it should be stating the relationship between variables. The hypothesis must be specific and should have scope for conducting more tests.
Answer : Hypothesis is usually considered as the principal instrument in research. Its main function is to
suggest new experiments and observations. In fact, many experiments are carried out with the
deliberate object of testing hypotheses. Decision-makers often face situations wherein they are
interested in testing hypotheses on the basis of available information and then take decisions on the
basis of such testing. In social science, where direct knowledge of population parameter(s) is rare,
hypothesis testing is the often used strategy for deciding whether a sample data offer such support
for a hypothesis that generalisation can be made. Thus hypothesis testing enables us to make probability
statements about population parameter(s). The hypothesis may not be proved absolutely, but in practice
it is accepted if it has withstood a critical testing. Before we explain how hypotheses are tested