How to Determine if it is One-Tailed or Two-Tailed Test?

Let me share to you this very clear explanation of ChatGPT in differentiating a one-tailed test from two-tailed test.

In statistical hypothesis testing, a one-tailed test is a test of significance where the rejection region is located entirely in one tail of the distribution, while a two-tailed test is a test of significance where the rejection region is split between the two tails of the distribution.

The choice of whether to use a one-tailed or two-tailed test depends on the research question being asked and the nature of the hypothesis being tested.

A one-tailed test is typically used when there is a directional hypothesis, that is, when the researcher expects the results to be significant in only one direction. For example, if a researcher wants to test whether a new medication is more effective than an existing medication, they might use a one-tailed test, as the hypothesis is directional (i.e., the new medication is expected to be more effective).

On the other hand, a two-tailed test is used when the hypothesis being tested is not directional. For example, if a researcher wants to test whether there is a difference in IQ scores between two groups of individuals, they might use a two-tailed test, as the hypothesis is not directional (i.e., there may be a difference in either direction).

To summarize, the choice between one-tailed and two-tailed tests depends on the research question being asked and the hypothesis being tested. A one-tailed test is used when there is a directional hypothesis, while a two-tailed test is used when the hypothesis is not directional.


A colleague was asking about the critical value of this given problem, which led us to explore more about the one-tailed and two-tailed tests. From the given answer below, it is stated that this is a one-tailed test based on its stated HYPOTHESIS.


To test the claim that Method A gives better results, we can use a two-sample t-test with equal variances.

The null hypothesis is that there is no difference in the mean speed-reading scores between the two methods, and the alternative hypothesis is that the mean score for Method A is higher than the mean score for Method B.

Let μ1 and μ2 be the mean speed-reading scores for Method A and Method B, respectively. Then the hypotheses are:

H0: μ1 = μ2 Ha: μ1 > μ2

The significance level is 0.01, which means that we want to reject the null hypothesis only if the probability of observing the data given the null hypothesis is less than 0.01.

To perform the t-test, we first calculate the pooled standard deviation:

s_p = sqrt(((n1-1)*s1^2 + (n2-1)*s2^2)/(n1+n2-2))

where n1 and n2 are the sample sizes, s1 and s2 are the sample standard deviations, and s_p is the pooled standard deviation.

Using the given values, we get:

s_p = sqrt(((16-1)*13.2^2 + (12-1)*10.2^2)/(16+12-2)) = 11.98

Next, we calculate the t-statistic:

t = (x1 – x2) / (s_p * sqrt(1/n1 + 1/n2))

where x1 and x2 are the sample means.

Using the given values, we get:

t = (44.0 – 36.5) / (11.98 * sqrt(1/16 + 1/12)) = 2.77

Finally, we find the critical value of the t-distribution with 26 degrees of freedom (df = n1 + n2 – 2) at the 0.01 level of significance. This can be done using a t-table or a calculator.

Using a t-table, we find the critical value to be 2.485 (one-tailed test).

Since the calculated t-value (2.77) is greater than the critical value (2.485), we reject the null hypothesis and conclude that Method A gives better results than Method B at the 0.01 level of significance.


We must maximize the benefits of using this AI. Also, you must do more than copy the answer given by the AI because comprehension matters a lot.
About the Author

Jevannel is passionate about teaching and learning about anything. She loves to share her words with the world, hoping for readers to get something from her works. She specializes in Science Education and Research and she also writes poetry and many other things.

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