To whom is the researcher similar in hypothesis testing: the defense attorney or the prosecuting attorney? Why?
The researcher is similar to the prosecuting attorney in the sense that the researcher brings the null hypothesis “to trial” when she believes there is a probability of strong evidence against the null.
- Just as the prosecutor usually believes that the person on trial is not innocent, the researcher usually believes that the null hypothesis is not true.
- In the court system, the jury must assume (by law) that the person is innocent until the evidence calls this assumption into question; analogously, in hypothesis testing the researcher must assume (to use hypothesis testing) that the null hypothesis is true until the evidence calls this assumption into question.
