Statistical Sciences 2035 Quiz: Power of a statistical test

• School: Western University
• Department: Statistical Sciences
• Course: Statistical Sciences 2035
• Professor: steven james kopp

Document Summary

We will now consider the probability for reaching the correct decision, rather than examining the potential for making an error as we do with p values. Inferential statistics are designed to help you determine the validity of the null hypothesis. Consequently, you want your statistics to detect differences in your data that are inconsistent with the null hypothesis. The power of a statistical test is its ability to detect these differences if the research hypothesis is true. Statistical power is the probability that the test will correctly reject a false null hypothesis, referring to type ii errors. Thus, the probability of correctly rejecting a false null hypothesis must be 1 . Factors that influence power: increasing sample size. Simply put: the bigger the sample, the more power. First, the larger the sample size, the smaller is the standard deviation of the distribution of means.