Interactive engagement (clicker) questions: Hypothesis testing for means

Prerequisite knowledge

Students should:

• be able to distinguish between a population and a sample, and between parameters and statistics
• be able to recall key properties of the Normal model
• be able to explain concepts of sampling distribution of the mean
• be able to interpret confidence intervals for means

Learning Objectives

• Identify the components of a classical hypothesis test, including the parameter of interest, the null and alternative hypotheses and the test statistic
• Compute the t statistic given relevant sample data
• Compute or find a range for the P-value of a hypothesis test
• Interpret the P-value in a hypothesis test
• State and interpret the conclusion of a hypothesis test in context
• Describe how the t statistic may change based on its component parts
• Explain the two types of errors possible.

Suggested use(s) and tips

These resources are intended to be used in a number of ways:

• as stand-alone clicker questions during lectures;
• as assessment questions during and outside of class (e.g., pre-lecture quiz after students complete pre-lecture reading or other assigned tasks);
• as questions to be adapted for use in guided in-class activities or other instructor-supplied material

About this resource

Funding: University of British Columbia
Project Leader: Eugenia Yu
Thanks To: Nancy Heckman, Bruce Dunham, Melissa Lee, Gaitri Yapa, Mike Whitlock, Fred Cutler, Diana Whistler, Andrew Owen, Mike Marin, Leslie Burkholder, Doug Bonn, the UBC Flex Stats initiative for numerous suggestions and improvements.