Assumption

How it is used

Researchers check, test, meet or violate assumptions: 'the normality assumption was violated'. Methods sections should explain how assumptions were checked and what was done when they did not hold, for example using a nonparametric test or a transformation.

Example sentences

1. The assumption of equal variances was checked with Levene's test.

2. If the normality assumption is badly violated, switch to the Mann–Whitney U test.

Common collocations

• check the assumptions
• violate an assumption
• meet the assumptions
• normality assumption
• assumption of independence

Related terms

• normal distributionA symmetric, bell-shaped distribution in which most values cluster around the mean and become rarer further away from it; its mean, median and mode are equal.
• nonparametric testA test that does not assume the data follow a specific distribution such as the normal, often working with ranks instead of the raw values.
• residualThe difference between an observed value and the value a model predicts for that observation; it shows how far the model misses each data point.
• t-testA hypothesis test that compares means: one group's mean with a fixed value, the means of two independent groups, or two measurements of the same people.
• independent eventsEvents where knowing that one has happened does not change the probability of the other; for two such events, P(A and B) = P(A) × P(B).

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• assumption · Project Management
• assumption · Academic English & Research

More terms: Hypothesis Testing

• hypothesis
• null hypothesis
• p-value
• statistical significance
• alternative hypothesis
• significance level
• reject the null hypothesis
• chi-square test
• ANOVA
• type I error
• type II error
• statistical power