null hypothesis

noun

1. (in the statistical testing of a hypothesis) the hypothesis to be tested.

null hypothesis

noun

1. statistics the residual hypothesis if the alternative hypothesis tested against it fails to achieve a predetermined significance level Compare hypothesis testing alternative hypothesis

Word History and Origins

Origin of null hypothesis¹

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

Friends in graduate school, they collaborated after "complaining about a number of papers that had come out that used this default null hypothesis that cavemen had strong gendered division of labor, the males hunt, females gather things. We were like, 'Why is that the default? We have so much evidence that that's not the case,'" Lacy said.

From Science Daily

The new paper uses Bayesian analysis, which is widely considered a more reliable measure of the effects of behavioral interventions than other techniques, such as null hypothesis tests of statistical significance.

From Scientific American

"Now, if we have an extreme heat wave, the null hypothesis is, 'Climate change is making that worse,'" said Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University.

From Salon

As a result, Napier says, the team could not reject the null hypothesis that the extreme TNOs are uniformly distributed around the Solar System, which would rob Planet Nine of its foundational evidence.

From Science Magazine

The authors agree that the randomized, placebo-controlled trial is the best method we have for testing drugs, and they argue that every scientific theory should be tested by, in Popper’s phrase, attempting to falsify the null hypothesis.

From Nature