Stat Trek

Teach yourself statistics

Stat Trek

Teach yourself statistics

Statistics Dictionary

To see a definition, select a term from the dropdown text box below. The statistics dictionary will display a definition for the term, plus links to related web pages.

Region of Acceptance

For a hypothesis test, a researcher collects sample data. From the sample data, the researcher computes a test statistic. If the statistic falls within a specified range of values, the researcher accepts the null hypothesis . The range of values that leads the researcher to accept the null hypothesis is called the region of acceptance.

For example, a researcher might hypothesize that the population mean is equal to 10. To test this null hypothesis, he/she could collect a random sample of observations and compute the sample mean. If the sample mean is close to 10 (say, between 9 and 11), the researcher might decide to accept the hypothesis. In this example, the region of acceptance would be the range of values between 9 and 11.