Posted on February 8, 2010.
How can I find a null and alternative hypothesis in this statistical problem? 2. A woman reads a new program plan. She wants to adopt, but unfortunately, after the new program plan requires the purchase of nutritious and low in calories but expensive. It has therefore chosen at random some of his friends who have already adopted the new system and asked about its effectiveness. She intends to adopt the new regime if the percentage of people who claim that the food program for new work exceeds 60%.
H0: p = 0.6
Ha: p> 0.6
* Remember to set p, the proportion of the population
The assumption should be around whether the new system works or not - and you must define what is meant by "works" ... is ... What you try to find the probability (in your case 60%) of? How will you measure .... Alt Hyp one would be "women who adhere to a nutritious diet of low calorie foods will maintain their weight over a period of one week. <- This wording is not great, but it should give you an idea (you know, the statistics of your project better than me, ha ha) ... Note: Your assumption might be that the weight loss rather than maintain their weight .... or they will not win more than 10 pounds - etc. get as specific as you think your "theory" is ..
As for the null hypo ... no assumption as stated, may be changed at a null hypothesis by adding the word "NO" ... in the case above, the null hypothesis will be "Women who adhere to food X will not maintain their weight over a period of one week.
Really what the null hypothesis means is that the variable of interest has no impact .... namely that nothing changes (ie the diet does not work)
Using stats facilitates the calculation of the probability of the hypothesis to be true (rather than to prove it) - in most cases, if a 95% probability that the hypothesis is true alt, then is considered important ... In your problem - it seems that 60% would be enough of a chance to accept the plan. (Note: Any plan would be a 50% chance of working from anyway) ...