Question

Consider the seven steps of hypothesis testing. The final step in the hypothesis-testing process involves deciding whether to reject the null hypothesis. Assuming thenull hypothesis is not rejected, what is the difference between accepting the null hypothesis and failing to reject it? Explain your reasoning.

Answer 1

The null hypothesis states that there is no effect or relationship between the variables. The alternative hypothesis states the effect or relationship exists.

Accepting the null hypothesis means that we prove that the null hypothesis is true and there is no effect or relationship between the variables.

Fail to reject the null hypothesis means that we fail to prove that the alternative hypothesis is true and we may not conclude that there is any effect or relationship between the variables.

In hypothesis testing, we never accept the null hypothesis. If the results are not significant, based on sample we always fail to reject the null hypothesis.

For instance, if you get a p-value such as 0.06 (i.e., p = .06), which is greater than assumed signiifcance level of 0.05,  we you would fail to reject the null hypothesis and would not accept the alternative hypothesis. This means that there is a 6% chance of finding a difference as large as (or larger than) the one in your study given that the null hypothesis is true. Even though the chance is low, it is not sufficiently low (< 0.05) to accept the alternative hypothesis and also not sufficiently high to accept the null hypothesis. Thus, we alsways fail to reject the null hypothesis.