Hypothesis Testing
In traditional statistical hypothesis testing, the tester starts with a null hypothesis and an alternative hypothesis, performs an experiment, and then decides whether to reject the null hypothesis in favour of the alternative. Hypothesis testing is therefore a binary classification of the hypothesis under study.
A positive or statistically significant result is one which rejects the null hypothesis. Doing this when the null hypothesis is in fact true - a false positive - is a type I error; doing this when the null hypothesis is false results in a true positive. A negative or not statistically significant result is one which does not reject the null hypothesis. Doing this when the null hypothesis is in fact false - a false negative - is a type II error; doing this when the null hypothesis is true results in a true negative.
Read more about this topic: Binary Classification
Famous quotes containing the words hypothesis and/or testing:
“The wheels and springs of man are all set to the hypothesis of the permanence of nature. We are not built like a ship to be tossed, but like a house to stand.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Now I see that going out into the testing ground of men it is the tongue and not the deed that wins the day.”
—Sophocles (497–406/5 B.C.)