Example

Example of Changing from a Two-Tailed to a One-Tailed tt-Test

Using a one-tailed test instead of a two-tailed test changes the critical value and the ease of rejecting the null hypothesis. For example, if a researcher has a strong theoretical reason to expect an underestimation, a one-tailed test will have a less extreme critical value (e.g., 1.833-1.833) compared to a two-tailed test (e.g., ±2.262\pm 2.262) for the same degrees of freedom. This makes it easier to reject the null hypothesis in the predicted direction. However, if the actual results are in the opposite direction (e.g., an overestimation instead of underestimation), the researcher cannot reject the null hypothesis, regardless of how extreme the difference is.

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Updated 2026-05-06

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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU