Review Understanding Statistical Hypothesis Testing: The Logic of Statistical Inference Frank Emmert-Streib 1,2,* and Matthias Dehmer 3,4,5 1 Predictive Society and Data Analytics Lab, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere University, 33100 Tampere, Finland 2 Institute of Biosciences and Medical Technology, Tampere University, 33520 Tampere, Finland 3 Institute for Intelligent Production, Faculty for Management, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Steyr Campus, 4040 Steyr, Austria 4 Department of Mechatronics and Biomedical Computer Science, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (UMIT), 6060 Hall, Tyrol, Austria 5 College of Computer and Control Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300000, China * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +358-50-301-5353 Received: 27 July 2019; Accepted: 9 August 2019; Published: 12 August 2019 Abstract: Statistical hypothesis testing is among the most misunderstood quantitative analysis methods from data science. Despite its seeming simplicity, it has complex interdependencies between its procedural components. In this paper, we discuss the underlying logic behind statistical hypothesis testing, the formal meaning of its components and their connections. Our presentation is applicable to all statistical hypothesis tests as generic backbone and, hence, useful across all application domains in data science and artificial intelligence. Keywords: hypothesis testing; machine learning; statistics; data science; statistical inference 1. Introduction We are living in an era that is characterized by the availability of big data. In order to emphasize the importance of this, data have been called the ‘oil of the 21st Century’ [1]. However, for dealing with the challenges posed by such data, advanced analysis methods are needed.