Topic 3 DQ 1. Provide two different examples of how research uses hypothesis testing, and describe the criteria for rejecting the null hypothesis. Discuss why this is important in your practice and with patient interactions.
ANSWER:
In health care, we rely on research to improve our practice. It can be to improve service quality, medication efficacy or decrease human errors. Whatever we are looking for, we have to start somewhere; perhaps identifying an issue or a need; we might start by proposing ideas of why situations are happening the way they are.
The main purpose of statistics is to prove or disprove a hypothesis. Hypothesis are educated testable ideas about something around us (“Statistics how to,” n.d.). Hypothesis testing can be a challenge for many of us but. it is necessary to verify our educated guesses. If our hypotheses was correct (maybe by chance), we then repeat the experiment and if the results are similar to our initial finding then we have a good chance to prove our hypothesis as correct.
One easy and simple way to test a hypothesis is by applying the one sample Z test. We can start by stating the null hypothesis(It assumes that whatever you are trying to prove did not happen) (“Hypothesis testing,” n.d.), then use the z formula to find the Z-score. Compare the results with those in the Z-table. (“Statistics how to,” n.d.).
Another way to test a hypothesis is by employing traditional testing (non-Bayesian). In this type of testing we repeat sampling over and over; while Bayesian testing do not. The main difference between the two is the first step.
Rejecting the null hypothesis is not that simple. Stating a null hypothesis comes with a friend: the alternate hypothesis. if the null hypothesis is rejected by several methods ( using formulas), then the alternate hypothesis must need to be rejected or accepted (“Hypothesis testing,” n.d.). The benefits of this process is to understand accurate information. For example: after analyzing data we now know that from a sample of 1000 patients 750 patients experienced vomiting within the first hour of taking the brand new medication XYZ. These i formation is important for for our practice to deliver safe medication administration.
References
Hypothesis testing. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://statistics.laerd.com/statistical-guides/hypothesis-testing-2.php
Statistics how to. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/probability-and-statistics/hypothesis-testing/#Hypothesis
