State the null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis
Choose the significance level, such as 0.05
Select the appropriate statistical test
Calculate the test statistic from the sample data
Determine the degrees of freedom if required
Use the test statistic and degrees of freedom to find the p value from a statistical table or software
For a one-tailed test, use the probability in one direction
For a two-tailed test, double the one-tailed probability
Compare the p value to the significance level
Reject the null hypothesis if p value is less than or equal to the significance level
Fail to reject the null hypothesis if p value is greater than the significance level