Think of a research study

This week you are leaning about the hypothesis testing method in statistics. This process starts out by stating the null and alternative hypotheses. Review the terms in “The Visual Learner: Statistics,” located in the Topic 3 Resources, to answer these questions.

Think of a research study that you would like to conduct at your current or future place of employment. In designing your research question, describe the null and alternative hypotheses. What would type I and type II errors look like in this hypothetical situation? Identify if this was a one-tailed or a two-tailed test?

Example: It is hypothesized that a follow-up phone call 2 weeks after discharge will improve patient compliance with the aftercare protocol.

Null Hypothesis: Communication with the patient 2 weeks after discharge will not change the compliance of patient aftercare protocol.

Alternative Hypothesis: Communication with the patient 2 weeks after discharge will improve compliance of patient aftercare protocol.

Type I Error: A type I error could occur if the data suggest an effect of the postdischarge phone call when there was not improvement in compliance of the aftercare protocol.

Type II Error: A type II error could have occurred if the data suggest that there was no improvement in compliance of the aftercare protocol when in fact there was an improvement.

One- or Two-Tailed Test: This is a one-tailed test because the researchers are predicting an increase in compliance of the aftercare protocol.