Do the following statements sound like typical null or alternative hypotheses?
(A) The coin is fair. (B) There is no difference between male and female incomes in the population. (C) There is no correlation in the population. (D) The patient is not sick (i.e., is well). (E) The defendant is innocent. All of these sound like null alternative hypotheses (i.e., the nothing new or status quo hypothesis). We usually assume that a coin is fair in games of chance; when testing the difference between male and female incomes in hypothesis testing we assume the null of no difference; when testing the statistical significance of a correlation coefficient using hypothesis testing, we assume that the correlation in the population is zero; in medical testing we assume the person does not have the illness until the medical tests suggest otherwise; and in our system of jurisprudence we assume that a defendant is innocent until the evidence strongly suggests otherwise. 16.14. What is a Type I error? What is a Type II error? How can you minimize the risk of both of these types of
