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In this post, learn what it means when you fail to reject the null hypothesis and why that’s the correct wording. While accepting the null hypothesis sounds more straightforward, it is not statistically correct!
This tutorial explains when you should reject the null hypothesis in hypothesis testing, including an example.
But everyday language around hypothesis testing, saying we “accept” or “reject” the null, can be misleading. This article walks you through what statisticians really mean and why the precise phrasing matters.
All it means is that the null hypothesis has not been disproven—hence the term "failure to reject." A "failure to reject" a hypothesis should not be confused with acceptance. In mathematics, negations are typically formed by simply placing the word “not” in the correct place.
We can either reject or fail to reject a null hypothesis, but never accept it. If your test fails to detect an effect, this is not proof that the effect doesn’t exist.
If the p-value is greater than the significance level, the conclusion is to “fail to reject” the Null Hypothesis. This outcome means the collected data did not provide sufficient evidence to overturn the assumption of the status quo.
Fail to reject the null hypothesis (p-value > alpha) and conclude that not enough evidence is available to suggest the null is false at the 95% confidence level. In the results of a hypothesis test, we typically use the p-value to decide if the data support the null hypothesis or not.
This post explains what it means to fail to reject the null hypothesis, why it's not a mistake, and how to interpret results in context—with R code and visualization.
Rejecting or failing to reject the null hypothesis suggests non-significance in the results of the hypothesis test. Accepting it is inappropriate; results merely indicate retention or failure to reject.
Failing to reject the null hypothesis means that there isn't enough evidence from the sample data to conclude that a significant effect or difference exists in the population.