Understanding the Power of a t-Test

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on the non-central t-distribution and its role in hypothesis testing, specifically in relation to the alternative hypothesis. It establishes that if X follows a non-central t-distribution with parameter δ and Y follows a chi-squared distribution, the ratio of these variables yields a t-distribution. The power of the test is defined as the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when the alternative hypothesis is true, emphasizing the significance of the non-centrality parameter in this context.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of non-central t-distribution
  • Familiarity with hypothesis testing concepts
  • Knowledge of chi-squared distributions
  • Basic statistics, including mean, variance, and sample size
NEXT STEPS
  • Study the derivation of the non-central t-distribution
  • Learn about the power of statistical tests and how to calculate it
  • Explore the implications of alternative hypotheses in hypothesis testing
  • Investigate the relationship between non-centrality and effect size
USEFUL FOR

Statisticians, data analysts, and researchers involved in hypothesis testing and statistical modeling will benefit from this discussion, particularly those working with non-central t-distributions and power analysis.

Mogarrr
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I'm looking over my notes, and I'm puzzled by this non-central t-distribution, and why it is the alternative hypothesis.

Non-central t-distribution: If X \sim (\delta, 1) and Y \sim \chi^2_{r}, in addition if X and Y are independent random variables, then \frac {X}{\sqrt{\frac {Y}{r}}} has a t-distribution with non-centrality parameter, \delta

\frac {\frac {\bar{X} - \mu}{\frac {\sigma}{\sqrt{n}}}}{\sqrt{\frac {(n-1)s^2}{\sigma^2 (n-1)}}} = \frac {\bar{X} - \mu_0}{\frac {s}{\sqrt{n}}} \sim t_{\delta = \frac {\bar{X} - \mu}{\frac {\sigma}{\sqrt{n}}}}

H_0 : \mu = \mu_0, H_1 : \mu \neq \mu_0

1 - \beta = P(\frac {|\bar{X} - \mu_0|}{\frac {s}{\sqrt{n}}} > t_{1 - \frac {\alpha}2} | \delta = \frac {\mu - \mu_0}{\frac {\sigma}{\sqrt{n}}}, n-1)


I do see that the general form for the power of a test is P{null is rejected | alternative is true}, but why is it that the alternative hypothesis is this crazy looking distribution?
 
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The noncentral t distribution arises as you are testing a special alternative, namely that X is distributed normally around delta, and not around 0 as in the null hypothesis.
 

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