RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Prof.(Dr.) K. S.Thakur
Dean, Faculty of Commerce
School of Commerce & Business Studies
Jiwaji University, Gwalior 474002 (INDIA)
HYPOTHESIS
Hypothesis is considered as the principal instrument in research.
Its main function is to suggest new experiments and observation. In
Fact many experiments are carried out with the deliberate object of
testing
Hypothesis. Decision makers often face situations where in they are
Interested in testing hypothesis on the basis of available information and
then
Take decision on the basis of such testing. In social science
Where direct knowledge of population parameters is rare. Hypothesis
Testing is the often used strategy for deciding whether a sample data
often such support for a hypothesis that generalisation can be made.
Thus hypothesis testing enables us to make probability statement about
Population parameters. The hypothesis may not be proved absolutely,
But in practices its accepted if it has with stood a critical testing.
Before we explain how hypothesis are tested through different
Tests meant for the purpose, it will be appreciation to explain
Clearly the meaning of hypothesis and the related concepts.
For better understanding of the hypothesis testing techniques.

what is hypothesis-
Ordinarily, when one talks about hypothesis, one simply means a mere assumption
Or some supposition to be proved or disproved. But for the researcher hypothesis
Is a formal question that he intends to resolve.Thus a hypothesis may be defined
As a proposition or a set of proposition set forth as an explanation for the occurrence of
some specified group of phenomena either asserted merely as a provisional
Connection to guide some investigation or accepted as highly probably in the lights
Of established facts. Quite often a research hypothesis is a predictive statement.
Capable of being testing by scientific methods, that relates an independent variable
To same depend variable. For example- consider statement like the following ones:

Meaning of hypothesis according to Claude bernard“student who receive counselling

Will show a greater increase is creativity than students no receiving counselling”
 or “the automobile A is performing as well as automobile B.”
there are hypothesis capable of being objectively verified
or tested. Thus we may conclude that hypothesis states what we are
looking
for and its a proposition which can be put to a that to determine its
validity.

types of hypothesis-
the types of hypothesis need to be explained-
1) Null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis:- in the context of statically
analysis. We often talk about null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis
if are to compare method A with method B about its superiority and if we
proceed on the assumption that both methods are equally good, then
this assumption is termed as the null hypothesis, as against this , we may
think that the method B is inferior, we are then stating what is termed
as alternative hypothesis as Ha. Suppose we want to test hypothesis
that the null hypothesis is that the population means is equal to
To the hypothesis means 100 and symbolically we can express as:
Ho:µ ˭ µ Ho˭ 100

If our sample result do not support this null hypothesis, we should calculate
that something else is true. What we conclude rejection the null hypo-
thesis is known as alternative hypothesis. In other words, the set
of alternative to the null hypothesis is referred to as the alternative hypo-
thesis. If we accept Ho, then we are rejecting Ha ,
Ho:µ ˭ µ Ho ˭ 100,
We may consider three possible alternative hypothesis as follow:
Alternative hypothesis To be read as follow
Ha : µ ≠ µ Ho (the alternative hypo is that the population
mean is not equal to 100. if may be more or
less than 100)
Ha : µ ˃ µ Ho The alternative hypo is that the population
means greater than 100
Ha : µ ˂ µHo The alternative hypo is that the population
means is lesser than 1oo
 The null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis are chosen
before the sample is drawn (the researcher must avoid the error
of
testing the hypothesis from the same data.)
the choice of null hypothesis . The following considerations
are usually kept in view:
A) Alternative hypothesis is usually the which one wishes to prove
and null hypothesis is the one which one wishes to disprove.
thus a null hypothesis represents all other possibilities.
B) if the rejection of a certain hypothesis when its actually true
involves great risk , its taken as null hypothesis because
then the probability of rejection it when its true is α ( the
level of significance) which is chosen very null.
C) Null hypothesis should always be specific hypothesis. It should
not state about or approximately a certain value.
 generally hypothesis testing we proceed on
the basis of null hypothesis. Keeping the alternative hypothesis.
keeping the alternative hypothesis in view. Why so?
the answer that on the assumption that
null hypothesis is true, one can assign the probability to different
possible sample result but this cannot be done if we proceed with
the alternative hypothesis. Hence the use of null hypothesis (at
times also known as statically hypothesis) is quite frequent.

2) The level of significance :- this is a way important concept in the

context of hypothesis testing. Its always some percentile
(usually 5%) which should be chosen with great care, through and
reason. In case we take the significance level at 5% than this implies
that Ho will be rejected. Reason in case we take the significance
level at 5% when the sampling result (i.e. Observed evidence) has
a less than 0.05 probability of occurring if Ho is true.
 In other words , the 5% level of significance means that researcher
is willing to take as much as a 5% risk of rejecting a null hypothesis
when it (Ho) happens to be true and is usually determined in advance
before testing the hypothesis.

3)- Decision rules and test of hypothesis- Given a hypothesis Ho

an alternative hypothesis Ha, we make a rule which is known
as decision rule according to which we accepted Ho(i.e. Reject Ha)
or reject Ho(i.e. Accept Ha). For instance if (Ho is that a certain lot
is good) . There are to many defective items in it. Then we must decide
the numbers of items to be tested and the criterion for accepting
or rejecting the hypothesis. We may test 10 items in the lot and plan
our decision saying that if there are none or only 1 defective items
among the 10. we will accept Ho otherwise we will reject Ho (or
accept Ha). This sort of basis is known as decision rule.
4) Type 1 and type 2 errors- in the context of testing of hypothesis ,
there are basically two types of errors we can made. We may reject
Ho when Ho is true and we may accept Ho when in fact Ho is not true.
the former is known as type 1 error and the letter as type 2 error.
in other words, type 1 error means rejection of hypothesis which
should have been accepted and type 2 error means rejection of
hypothesis which should have been rejected.
type 1 error is denoted by α (alpha) known as α error, also called the
level of significances of tests and type 2 errors are denoted by β (beta)
known as β errors. In the tabular form they said two errors can be
presented as follow:-
 Decision
Accept Ho Reject Ho
Ho (true) Correct decision Type 1 error(α error)
Ho (false) Type 2 error (error) Correct decision
The probability of type 1 error is usually determined in advance and is
understood as the level of significance of testing.
the hypothesis if type 1 is fixed at 5%, it means that there are about 5
chances in 100 that we will reject Ho when Ho is true. We can control
type 1 errors just by fixing it at a lower level. For instance if we fix it at
1% we will say that the maximum probability of committing type 1 error
would only be 0.01.
but with a fixed sample size, n when we try to reduce
type 1 errors the probability of committing type 2 error increase. Both
type of errors increase cannot be reduced simultaneously. There
is trade of between two types of error can only be reduced if we are
willing to increase the probability of making the other type of error.
to deal with this trade off in business situation, decision makers decide
the appropriate level of type 1 error by examining the cost of penalties.
attached to both type of errors. If type 1 errors involves the time and
trouble of reworking a batch of chemical that should have been
accepted
Whereas type 2 error means taking a chance that an entire group of
users of the chemical compound will be poisoned, then in a situation
one should prefer a type 1 error to a type 2 error. As a result one must
set very high level for type 1 error in ones testing technique of a given
hypothesis? Hence in the testing hypothesis, one must make all possible
efforts to strike an adequate balance between type 1 and type 2 errors.

5) Two tailed and one tailed tests :- in the context of hypothesis

testing
there two terms are quite important and must be clearly
understood. A two tailed test reject the null hypothesis if say, the
sample means is significantly higher and lower than the hypothesised
value of the mean of the population, such a test is appropriate when
the null hypothesis is some specified value and the alternative
hypothesis
is a value not equal to the specified value of the null hypothesis.
symbolically the two tailed test is appropriate when we have
 Ho = µ = µ Ho and Ha : µ ≠ µ Ho which we mean
µ ˃ µ Ho or µ ˂ µ Ho. Thus in the two tailed test , there are
are two rejection region.

HYPOTHESIS TESTING :-

Two test of hypothesis means to tell ( on the basis of data the researcher
Has collected) whether or not the hypothesis testing the main question
is : whether to accept the null hypothesis or not to accept the null hypo
Thesis ? Procedure for hypothesis testing refer to all those step that
we undertake for making a choice between the two action i.e.
rejection or acceptance of a null hypothesis. The various steps involved
in hypothesis testing are stated below :
1) Making a formal statement- Two steps consists in making a
formal statement of the null hypothesis (Ho) and also of
the alternative hypothesis (Ha). This means that hypothesis should
means that hypothesis should be clearly stated considering the nature
of research problem. For instance, Mr. Mohan of civil engineering
Department want to test the load bearing capacity of an old bridge
which must be more than tons, in that case he can state his hypo-
thesis as under-
Null hypothesis Ho : µ = 10 Tons
Alternative hypothesis Ha : µ ˃ 10 Tons

Take another example the score in an aptitude test administered at the

national level is 80. to evaluate a state education system, the average
score and national score . In such a situation the hypothesis may be states as
under :
 Null hypothesis is Ho : µ = 80
Alterative hypothesis Ha : µ ≠ 80

The formulation of hypothesis is an important step which must be

accomplished with due care in accordance with the object and nature
of the problem under consideration. It also indicates whether we
should use a one tailed test or a two tailed test. If Ha is of the type
greater than (or of the type lesser than) , we use a one tailed test but
when Ha is of the type whether greater or smaller than we use a two
tailed test.
2) Selecting a significance level- The hypothesis are tested
on a predetermined level of significance and as such the same
should be specified. Generally in practice, either 5% level or 1% level
is
adopted for the purpose. The factor that affect the level of significance
are-
(a) The magnitude of the difference between sample means.
(b) The size of the sample: and
(c) The validity of managements within samples
(d) Whether the hypothesis is directional or non – directional of the
difference between say, means.
In brief, the level of significance must
be adequate in the context of the purpose and nature of enquiry.
3) Deciding the distribution to use- After distribution the
level of significance the next step in hypothesis testing is to
determine the appropriate sampling distribution. The choice generally
remain between normal distribution and t- distribution. The rules
for selecting the correct distribution are similarly to those which we
have stated earlier in the context of estimation.

4) Selecting a random sampling and computing an

appropriate value- Another step is to select a random
samples and compute an appropriate value from the sample data
concerning the test statically utilizing the relevant distribution.
in other words, Draw a sample to furnish empirical data.
5) Calculating the probability - One has then to calculate the
probability that the sample result would diverge as widely as it
has from expectations, If the null hypothesis were in fact true.

6) Computing the probability- Yet another step consists in

comparing the probability thus calculated with the specified value
for α , the significance level . If the calculated probability is equal to
or smaller than the α value in case of tailed test ( and α/2 in case of
two tailed test), then reject the null hypothesis ( i.e. Accept the
alternative hypothesis), but if the calculated probability is greeter then
accept the null hypothesis, in case we reject Ho , we run a risk of (At
most the level of significance) committing an error of type 1 , but
if we accept Ho , then we run some risk ( the size of which cannot be
specified as long as the Ho happen to be vague rather than specific) of
committing an error of type 2.
 State Ho as well as Ha

Specify the level of significance ( or the α value)

Decide the correct sampling distribution

Sample a random samples (s) and worked out an appropriate

value from sample data
Calculating the probability that sample result would diverge as
widely as it has from expectations, if Ho were true
Is this probability equal to or smaller than α value in case of one tailed test α
Value in case of one tailed test and α/2 in case of two tailed test.

Yes No
reject Ho Accept Ho

Thereby run the risk of Thereby run some risk

of
 FOMULATION OF HYPOTHESIS-
1- MAKING A FOMAL STATEMENT- The researcher
Undertake research start with defining the problem clearly.
Once that has been achieved the researcher is in a position to
Define the null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis.

2- select relevant test and probability distribution-

In the next step, its necessary to select a statistical technique and
Probability distribution. The choice of probability distribution
Depend on the purpose of hypothesis test. The researcher
should
Carefully se how the test statistic is computed and which
sampling
Distribution is it following normal or chi distribution.

3- choosing the critical value- the criteria for accepting

Or rejecting the null hypothesis is depend on -
A) Level of significance
B) Degree of freedom
C) One or two tailed test.

4) Collect data and test statistic- the next stage

involves
drawing a sample and collecting data using a data
collection
data using a data collection strategy that suit the purpose
of study.

5) Compare the test statistics and critical value-

this is a crucial stage
where the test statistics computed earlier is compared
with
the critical value specified.
6) Taking a final decision- in the last step the researcher
has to now make a decision of accepting or not accepting null
hypothesis.

SOURCES OF HYPOTHESIS-
1) CULTURE- Culture is a first and main sources of hypothesis.
the area and the tradition of this place describe the one way of
hypothesis.

2)SCIENTIFIC THEORY- Scientific theories are another sources

of hypothesis because the culture is affected by scientific theories.

3)ANALOGIES- analogies are another third sources of hypothesis

they provide the idea about the scientific theories and the culture of
area.
 Test of hypothesis-

As has been stated above that hypothesis testing determines the validity
of the assumption (Technically described as null hypothesis) with a
view to chosen between two conflicting hypothesis about the
population parameters . Hypothesis testing help to decide on the basis
of samples
data, whether a hypothesis about the population is likely to be true or
false . Statiscians have developed several tests of hypothesis ( also
known as the tests of significance) for the purpose of testing of
hypothesis which can be classified as:

a) Parametric tests or standard test of hypothesis. And

b) Non parametric test or distribution – free test of hypothesis.

 HYPOTHESIS TESTING

PARAMETRIC TEST NON PARAMETRIC TEST

ONE SAMPLE TWO SAMPLES ONE SAMLE TWO SAMPLE

1)T-TEST 1)CHI-SQURE TEST

2)Z-TEST 2)RUN TEST
3)CHI- SQURE
IDEPENDENT TEST PAIRED SAMPLE INDEPNDENT PAIRED

1)TWO GROUP T-TEST 1)PAIRED T-TEST 1)CHI-SQURE 1)SIGN T

2)Z-TEST 2)MANN-WHITNEY 2)wilcoxon t
3)F-TEST 3)KURSKALL WALLIS 3)mc nemer t
4) chi-squre t
HYPOTHESIS TEST OF DIFFERENCE
 Parametric test:-

Parametric test usually assume certain properties of the parent

population from which we draw samples. Assumption like observation
come from a normal population. Sample size is large assumption about
the population parameters like mean, variance etc. Must hold good
before parametric test can be used but there are situation when the
researcher cannot or does not want to make such assumptions.

Important parametric test-

1) Z- Test
2) T- Test
3) Chi-square Test, and
4) F- Test
 All these test are based on the assumption of normality i.e.
the source of data is considered to be normally distributed. Yet the
test will be applicable on account of the fact that we mostly deal with
samples and the sampling distribution closely approach distribution.

a) Z- test :- Z- test is based on the normal probability distribution.

and its used for judging the significances of several statically
measures.
particularly the mean. The relevant test statistics. Z is working out and
compared with its probable value ( to be read from table showing area
under normal curve ) at a specified level of significance for judging the
significance of the measure concerned. This is most frequently used
test in research studies. This test is used even when binominal
distribution or t- distribution is applicable on the presumption that
such a distribution tends to approximate normal distribution as “n”
became larger . Z- test is generally used for comparing the mean of the
sample to same hypothesised mean for the population in case of
 larger sample, or when population variance is known.
Z- test is also used for judging the
significances of difference between mean of the two independent
sample in case of large sample or when population variance is known.
Z- test is also used for comparing the sample
Proportion to a theoretical value of population proportion or for judging
the difference in proportions of two independent samples when n
happen to be large. Besides , this test may be used for judging the
Significance of median, mode coefficient of correlation and several
other measurement.
2) T- test- . T test is based on t distribution and its considered an
appropriate test for judging the significances of a sample mean or for
judging the significance of difference between the mean of two sample
in case of small samples when population variance is not known (in
which case two samples are related , we use paired T- test ( or what
is known as difference test ) for judging the significance of the mean
of difference between the two related samples. It can also be used for
judging the significances of the coefficient of simple and partial
co-rreletion. The relevant test statistics, T is calculated from the sample
data and than compared with its probable value based on t-
distribution ( to be read from the table that gives probable value of t-
for different levels of significance for concerning degree of freedom for
accepting or rejecting the null hypothesis. It may noted that T- test
applies only in case of small samples (s) when population variance is
unknown.
3) chi-square Test:- This test based on chi- square distribution
and as a parametric test is used for comparing a sample variance to a
theoretical
population variance.

4) F- test:- F- Test is based o chi- square distribution and its used to

compare the variance of the two independent samples. This test is
also used in the context of analysis of variance (ANOVA) for judging
the significance of more than two samples mean at one and the same
time. Its also used for judging the significances of multiple co-
relation coefficient test statistics. F- test is calculated and compared
with its probable value ( To be seen in the F ratio table) for different
degree of freedom for greater and smaller variance at specified level
Of significance for accepting or rejecting the null hypothesis.
 Non- Parametric Test:-

In such situation we use statistical methods for testing hypothesis which

are called Non- parametric test because such test do not depend on
any assumption about the parameters of the parent population.
besides, most no parametric test assume only nominal or ordinal data,
whereas parametric test require measurement equivalent to at test
on interval scale.
 Types of non parametric test:-
1) Sign test
2) Wilcoxon matched pair test ( or signed rank test)
3) Wilcoxon mann whitney test ( or U- test )
4) Kruskal- wallis H- test
5) Rank co- rrelation
6) Kendell´s coefficient of concordance
7) Fisher – Irwin test
8) One sample run test
1) Sign test:- sign test uses direction of difference to test if
population mean is equal to hypothesized mean.
The sign test is of two types:
a) One sample sign test
b) Two sample sign test

2) Wilcoxon matched pairs test:- this test is suitable for

matched pairs of before and after experiment type. The direction
as well as magnitude of difference is considered.

3) Wilcoxon- mann- whitney test (U- test)- U- test measures

the degree of separation or the amount of overlap between two
independent samples.
4) Kruskal- wallis H-test:- H- test is a non- parametric analysis
of variance that does not require the assumption of normality of
population.
5) Rank Correlation method:- This method is actually a
measure
of correlation or association.
6) Kendall´s coefficient of concordance:- this method is
used
for determining the degree of association among several k sets of
ranked data of n objects.
7) Mc nemer test:- This test is used for two related samples in
situations where the attitude of peoples are noted before and after
treatment to test the significance of change in opinion if any.
THANK- YOU.........