(June 1, 2018 at 11:56 am)FatAndFaithless Wrote:Using your example, isn't "There is a difference in IQ between races" a claim? And the null is "There is no difference in IQ between races" ?(June 1, 2018 at 11:52 am)ohreally Wrote: This doesn't seem right to me. Maybe i'm totally wrong in my whole thought process. Shouldn't the null be that there is no difference in IQ between races. You either find statistically significant data and void the null or find nothing.
No, Anom has it right. The null hypothesis is just the default counterpoint to any assertion/hypothesis being tested. To prove an assertion/hypothesis you would have to show the null hypothesis to be incorrect.
"Smoking causes cancer" -> a claim. The null hypothesis would be "Smoking does NOT cause cancer." Through all the medical and scientific testing we've done, the null hypothesis was proven incorrect, and we know that smoking is a cause of cancer.
If water rots the soles of your boots, what does it do to your intestines?
