The Null and Alternative Hypotheses

As the prosecuting attorneys, their theory was that OJ committed the murders...that OJ Simpson is guilty...their theory was actually the alternative hypothesis (Ha), with the null hypothesis (Ho) being OJ Simpson is innocent...

Marcia and Chris labeled their hypotheses and presented them to us as prosecution Exhibit A...

Think of Me as a Facilitator...

While Marcia and Chris presented their theory in court, remember that my role was that of judge, not jury...similar to a program evaluator facilitating information for stakeholders, I was the facilitator of the information within the courtroom...I may have made important decisions about how information was presented within the courtroom (which could have potentially affected the outcome of the case), but I did not make the final decisions or verdict on the case...

...and the Jury as Stakeholders

...That role was left to the jury...you can think of the jury as a sample of the population who represented the stakeholders known, in this case, as the State of California (all citizens of the State.) There were multiple stakeholders in this case -- the victims families, friends, the defendant and his family, friends, the jury, the State of California, the United States, the judicial system, the lawyers involved in the case, etc., BUT only the jury made the decision (drew a conclusion) on whether to accept the null hypothesis (OJ is innocent) or to reject (OJ is guilty)....

The Jury as Critics


What were the criteria that the jury used to make conclusions about Marcia and Chris' hypothesis? Similar to the social sciences, the jury made decisions based on how well the lawyers presented their evidence...in this sense, we can think of the lawyers as the conductors and publishers of the research, and the jury as the critics or other social scientists who judge the ultimate validity of the presented theories or program effects...the stronger Marcia and Chris can provide evidence or proof for their theory, the more likely the jury would reject the null hypothesis and validate Marica and Chris' belief that OJ is gulity...

...But just as there are professional standards for providing significant evidence for a social science theory, so too did the jury have to make a decision based on judicial standards....