null hypothesis
noun
: a statistical hypothesis to be tested and accepted or rejected in favor of an alternative
specifically
: the hypothesis that an observed difference (as between the means of two samples) is due to chance alone and not due to a systematic cause
Examples of null hypothesis in a Sentence
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Those results nearly always center on a statistical approach called null hypothesis significance testing, which produces a p value.
—
Lydia Denworth, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2019
Gelman, who frequently criticizes the statistical approaches of others, does not use null hypothesis significance testing in his work at all.
—Lydia Denworth, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2019
Of course, the only way to test that null hypothesis is to continue the search—ideally without overlooking any evidence that may lurk right under our robotic or real noses.
—Derek Smith, Scientific American, 17 Apr. 2023
But the 95% significance threshold under the permuted null hypothesis turned out to be an almost-as-spectacular r=0.84!
—Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 11 May 2019
People normally use this method to see whether some 'complex' model fits the data significantly better than a 'simple' model (the null hypothesis).
—Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 6 May 2014
Scientists, by contrast, operate from what seems to most people to be the counterintuitive position of the null hypothesis: an assumption that one is wrong until proven otherwise.
—WSJ, 28 Aug. 2022
Researchers now routinely take this model – Einstein plus dark matter, often called the ‘null hypothesis’ – as their starting point and then perform detailed calculations of galactic systems to test it.
—Pavel Kroupa, Discover Magazine, 6 Feb. 2017
The statement is true in theory - by definition, p values should behave in that way assuming the null hypothesis is true.
—Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 25 Jan. 2013
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Lydia Denworth, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2019
Gelman, who frequently criticizes the statistical approaches of others, does not use null hypothesis significance testing in his work at all.
—Lydia Denworth, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2019
Of course, the only way to test that null hypothesis is to continue the search—ideally without overlooking any evidence that may lurk right under our robotic or real noses.
—Derek Smith, Scientific American, 17 Apr. 2023
But the 95% significance threshold under the permuted null hypothesis turned out to be an almost-as-spectacular r=0.84!
—Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 11 May 2019
People normally use this method to see whether some 'complex' model fits the data significantly better than a 'simple' model (the null hypothesis).
—Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 6 May 2014
Scientists, by contrast, operate from what seems to most people to be the counterintuitive position of the null hypothesis: an assumption that one is wrong until proven otherwise.
—WSJ, 28 Aug. 2022
Researchers now routinely take this model – Einstein plus dark matter, often called the ‘null hypothesis’ – as their starting point and then perform detailed calculations of galactic systems to test it.
—Pavel Kroupa, Discover Magazine, 6 Feb. 2017
The statement is true in theory - by definition, p values should behave in that way assuming the null hypothesis is true.
—Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 25 Jan. 2013
Dictionary Entries Near null hypothesis
Cite this Entry
“Null hypothesis.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/null%20hypothesis. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.
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