Is two-tailed testing for directional research hypotheses tests legitimate?

Hyun-Chul Cho and Shuzo Abe

Journal of Business Research, 2013, vol. 66, issue 9, 1261-1266

Abstract: This paper demonstrates that there is currently a widespread misuse of two-tailed testing for directional research hypotheses tests. One probable reason for this overuse of two-tailed testing is the seemingly valid beliefs that two-tailed testing is more conservative and safer than one-tailed testing. However, the authors examine the legitimacy of this notion and find it to be flawed. A second and more fundamental cause of the current problem is the pervasive oversight in making a clear distinction between the research hypothesis and the statistical hypothesis. Based upon the explicated, sound relationship between the research and statistical hypotheses, the authors propose a new scheme of hypothesis classification to facilitate and clarify the proper use of statistical hypothesis testing in empirical research.

Keywords: Hypothesis testing; One-tailed testing; Two-tailed testing; Statistical hypothesis; Research hypothesis in existential form; Research hypothesis in non-existential form (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:66:y:2013:i:9:p:1261-1266

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2012.02.023

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