A DUCK’S STORY

INTRODUCING THE IDEA OF TESTING (STATISTICAL) HYPOTHESES

This is a short story that will introduce you to the

ideas and vocabulary of hypothesis testing.

Please read the story and questions carefully and

fill in the blanks.

A. INTERACTIVE LECTURE PART

I The research question:

ARE FEMALE MALLARDS ATTRACTED TO THE COLOR GREEN?

A student is taking a biology class that studies animal behavior and is assigned the following research:

In a certain species (mallards), male ducks have green heads and females are a plain color. Probably the purpose
of the green coloring of the male heads is to attract the females. The question is: are female ducks also attracted to
the green color in food, for example in bread?

II Writing statistical hypotheses

We basically want to know if female ducks are indifferent to green bread versus plain bread or if they prefer
green bread. The research question can be translated into the confrontation of two opposite ideas:

Idea 1: Female ducks are indifferent to plain versus green bread.

Idea 2: Female ducks prefer green bread.

When a female duck of the above-mentioned species is confronted with two pieces of bread, one plain and
one green, the probability of picking the green one will be called p. Write the two previous ideas in terms of p.

Idea 1: p=
Idea 2: p>

We call these confronting ideas 'statistical hypotheses'. The first one states that the ducks equally like
the green and the plain bread. This statement is called the 'null hypothesis' because it represents an idea of no
difference and is labeled by the symbol 'H0'. The second idea says that the ducks prefer the green bread and states
something different than the first one, so it is called the 'alternative hypothesis'. The symbol used for the
alternative hypothesis is 'Ha'.

We must decide which of the two hypotheses is more likely to be true. The decision between the two hypotheses is
usually expressed in terms of H0 (idea # 1). If we favor Ha (idea # 2), we usually say that 'we reject H0'.

III Gathering evidence to make the decision.

The student designs a study in order to be able to make a decision about the two statistical hypotheses.
She will go to a lake near campus where mallards are quite abundant and will randomly select 10 female ducks.
Each duck will be offered two pieces of bread: one plain and one dyed green. The student will write down which
piece of bread each duck approaches first. Then she will summarize her information reporting how many ducks
approach the green bread first.

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 Think about the variable x = # of ducks in the x p(x)
sample that prefer the green bread. Think of ‘picking 0 0.000977
green first’ as ‘success’. Note that the sample size is 1 0.009766
n=10. If the ducks are truly indifferent to plain versus 2 0.043945
green bread, what is the distribution of the variable x? 3 0.117188
4 0.205078
Name of the distribution: 5 0.246094
______________________________ 6 0.205078
Parameters: n= p= 7 0.117188
8 0.043945
The values of P(x) appear to the right. 9 0.009766
10 0.000977

IV Arriving at a conclusion.

If female ducks were truly indifferent between green and plain bread, about how many ducks, of the ten
that were observed, would you have expected to choose the green bread first? _________. Of course, even if the
null hypothesis was true we are not always going to get that result in reality due to sampling variability or just
chance. Suppose the biology student finds that 9 of the 10 female ducks sampled prefer the green bread. So, p=0.5
and p ˆ = 0.9
If female ducks are really indifferent to plain versus green bread, what is the probability that 9 female ducks
in a sample of 10 would pick the green bread first just by chance? ___________.

Nine out of 10 seems to indicate that female ducks tend to prefer green bread to plain. If more than 9 had picked
the green bread first, it would be a situation even farther from what was expected under the null hypothesis. A
number higher than 9 would have given us even a clearer idea that female ducks tend to prefer the green color.
That is why we are interested in knowing what is the probability that 9 (the value the student observed) or more
female ducks pick the green bread first. We want to know not only what the chances are of getting the result that
we got, but also what the chances are of getting a result that is farther from what the null hypothesis indicates,
provided the null hypothesis is true. What is the probability that, assuming that in general female ducks are really
indifferent between green and plain bread, 9 or more female ducks in a sample of 10 would pick the green bread
first just by chance? ______________.

To summarize our results we would say that the probability of getting a result as the one we got (9 ducks picking
the green bread first) or a more extreme one when the null hypothesis (p=0.5 , meaning ducks are indifferent
between green and plain) is true is 0.0107430 (This probability of getting the result we got or a more extreme one
is called 'p-value'.)

So, becoming aware that the probability of getting the result we got when the null hypothesis Ho is true is very
small, would you feel like believing Ho is true? YES NO

So, which hypothesis, H0 or Ha, do you favor? _________

So, which of these conclusions seem more reasonable? (Circle one)

REJECT Ho DO NOT REJECT Ho

Now write your answer to the research question posed at the beginning of this worksheet:

The question is: are female ducks also attracted to the green color in food, for example in bread?

YES NO

Note: How do we decide if the p-value is small or large?

At the beginning of the study, before the data are collected, we fix the desired value of a (‘significance
level’) the most common value is a =0.05. We will explain later what a means. The value

a
small LARGE

0 p-value 1

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V Reviewing the thinking process.

Read sections I-V again and notice that the way we thought in order to arrive at a conclusion can be
summarized in the following steps:
a) Identifying the research question (Do female ducks prefer green to plain bread?)
b) Identifying a quantity related to the research question whose value we don't know. In this case the quantity
of interest is the probability of a hypothetical female duck picking the green bread (or the proportion of all
female ducks that would pick the green bread). In general, that quantity is called a 'parameter'.
c) Writing the statistical hypotheses in terms of that parameter of interest. In the example the statistical
hypotheses are H0: p=0.5 and Ha: p>0.5.
d) Collecting data and calculating a statistic (A study was conducted and it was observed that 9 out of 10
ducks preferred the green bread)
e) Finding the p-value (probability that the result we got or a more extreme one happens just by chance given
that the null hypothesis is true).
f) Deciding if the p-value is small or large. In the example of ducks, we felt like rejecting the null hypothesis
because the p-value was small.

This thinking procedure is called 'hypothesis testing' and can be applied to many situations in which a
research question is asked, and data are collected (through a survey or experiment) in order to answer the
research question. Here we have done a test of hypothesis for a population proportion using a small sample.
Common examples of test of hypotheses in introductory statistics courses are test of hypotheses about proportions
with large samples, test about the mean of a population, matched pairs tests, tests for the means of two
populations. The main difference among those cases will be the probability distribution (or ‘sampling distribution’
because is the distribution of a sample statistic) that we use to find the p-values but the steps a) to f) are similar.

VI In how many different ways can we make a wrong decision?

In hypothesis testing we need to pick either H0 or Ha. Obviously, we would like to make the correct
decision, but we can sometimes make the wrong decision. How would you describe in words (in terms of what the
ducks prefer and what we say they prefer) each one of these situations?

1) We select Ha but it is the wrong decision because H0 is true.

_____________________________________________________________

2) We select H0 but it is the wrong decision because H0 is not true.

_______________________________________________________

We call these situations: type I error and type II error. Of course, we would like to keep the chances of making a
mistake very small. We already mentioned that we usually express our decision in terms of H0 (reject or not reject
H0). In the same way we usually focus on the probability of making type I error (rejecting the null hypothesis when it
is true). This is because the null hypothesis reflects a 'status quo' or neutrality situation, and if we reject it, we are
making a statement saying that something is better or preferred, or worse, or different, depending on the situation.
When two medicines are being compared in a pharmaceutical study a ' type I error' would mean to ascertain that
one medicine is better when they have actually similar effectiveness. Type I error is usually considered a serious
error and we like to have some control over it.

VII How ‘small’ is small (in the ‘p-value’ world)?

When we made the decision about the null hypotheses, we had a figure to help us decide if the ‘p-value’
was small or large, but we did not mention how the value of a had been decided at the beginning of the study.
The probability of making type I error is called a (or 'significance level'.) We set the value we want for a
at the beginning of a study. A very common value is 0.05 but in studies (such as medical research) where the
consequences of type I error are very serious, we like to have a smaller a such as 0.01. If you doubt whether the
p-value is small or not, you can compare it to a in order to decide if it is small or large. If the p-value is too close to
a you may say the test is inconclusive and ask for more evidence (data).

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 a
small LARGE

0 p-value 1

It is very important to fix the desired value of a at the beginning of the study, before the data are collected
and the results are observed. To do it later could lead to accommodating the situation to get a result (reject or not
reject H0) that we want instead of trying to find out the truth.

Now think about this: if you exaggerate the caution to avoid making a type I error, which involves 'rejecting
H0', you will try never to reject H0 and the probability of doing type II error (accepting Ho when it is false) would grow
uncontrollably. The probability of 'type II error' is called b . To keep b at a reasonable level we should not
exaggerate, making a extremely small, unless we have enough data (large n) as to make a very sound decision.

B. ACTIVITY PART- Using your knowledge to apply to other examples.

You are now familiar with the general ideas and vocabulary of hypotheses testing. You also know how to translate
a research question into statistical hypotheses about a population proportion and how to test the hypotheses using
small samples. Now you can apply your knowledge in other to answer other research questions.

Come up with an interesting research question about a probability or a population proportion. Some simple
examples are:

• Is the probability of getting a six in a slanted die still 1/6? Or is it higher?

• Does telepathy (like one person thinking in one of 10 digits and the other person guessing it) work?
• Is the dominant hand faster than the non-dominant hand (using a reaction time ruler)?
• When 2 people enter a restaurant (could be changed for other type of location like a bank), one female and
one male, is the man the one that most frequently opens the door?
• Do more people wear snickers than shoes when going to the grocery store?

I am sure you can produce more interesting and original research questions. Data can be obtained either by
experimentation or through a survey.

Write the research question:

Write the null and alternative hypotheses:

Ho:

Ha:

Decide the value of a you will work with. ____________

What type of data will you collect? What is considered a ‘success’ in this case?

Collect the data.

Discuss if in the case you are working it makes sense to put all the data together or not (i.e., if you are all talking
about the same population). Put the data collected by the whole group together (if applicable). Pay attention to the
fact that probably the observations collected by each one of the students differ even if you all worked with the same
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population. After the data are collected, you will go through the process of arriving at a decision and answering the
research question.

Look for a probability table that will help you finding the p-value.

How many ‘successes’ you found in the n trials? _____________

What is the value of p̂ ?________

Calculate the p-value.

What is your conclusion about the null hypothesis?

Answer the research question.

Now write a paragraph in plain English, telling a friend the small research your class conducted and their
conclusions.

This worksheet is inspired from the study: Seier, E. and Robe, C. , (2002), Ducks and Green - An Introduction to
the Ideas of Hypothesis Testing. Teaching Statistics Vol 24 Num 3 Pages 82-86 [Link]
[Link]/doi/pdf/10.1111/1467-9639.00094