Significance Testing, step by step
The standard test, in the order it must be done.
- State both hypothesesH₀ is the specific claim; H₁ names the departure you want to detect.
- Fix the level in advanceα is chosen before the data are seen, never after inspecting p.
- Compute the test statisticStandardise the estimate on the assumption that H₀ is true.
- Find the p-valueThe chance of a statistic this extreme or worse if H₀ holds.
- Compare and reportp < α rejects H₀. Otherwise you fail to reject; you never accept it.
p is not the probability that H₀ is true. The 0.05 threshold is a convention, and a contested one. Educational reference.
Questions about the Significance Testing poster
- What’s on the Significance Testing poster?
- 5 numbered steps. The standard test, in the order it must be done. State both hypotheses — H₀ is the specific claim; H₁ names the departure you want to…; Fix the level in advance — α is chosen before the data are seen, never after inspecti…; Compute the test statistic — Standardise the estimate on the assumption that H₀ is true.; Find the p-value — The chance of a statistic this extreme or worse if H₀ holds.; Compare and report — p < α rejects H₀. Otherwise you fail to reject; you never accept…. p is not the probability that H₀ is true. The 0.05 threshold is a convention, and a contested one. Educational reference.
- Who is the Significance Testing poster for?
- Significance Testing belongs to the Mathematics section rather than to a school year, because math is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning probability & statistics can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Significance Testing poster?
- Before running a test, and again before writing up what it showed. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Significance Testing belongs on the wall where that math work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Significance Testing?
- Bayes' Theorem, Central Limit Theorem and Conditional Probability sit alongside Significance Testing in the Mathematics section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Bayes' TheoremCentral Limit TheoremConditional Probability
- Is the Significance Testing poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Significance Testing downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Mathematics section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Significance Testing poster print at?
- Significance Testing is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Significance Testing loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Significance Testing on the same wall.
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