p-value of a hypothesis test

CFA level I / Quantitative Methods: Application / Hypothesis Testing / p-value of a hypothesis test

The p-value is the smallest level of significance at which the null hypothesis can be rejected. The p-value and the calculated values of test statistics provide the same final result about the null hypothesis. A greater value of the magnitude of the test statistic leads to a lower p-value.

If the p-value of the test is lower than the specified level of significance, then we reject the null hypothesis. If the p-value is 0.004 and the level of significance is 0.05, then we reject the null hypothesis. The p-value provides more precise information on the strength of the evidence than the rejection points approach using critical values of test statistics. The p-value also provides the level at which the null hypothesis could have been rejected. For a p-value of 0.004, the null hypothesis would have been rejected at 0.005.

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