Final answer:
The statement is false; the alternative hypothesis is not set up to be rejected in order to support the null hypothesis. Instead, it represents a claim that is contradictory to the null hypothesis and is supported when the null hypothesis is rejected based on evidence.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that an alternative hypothesis (H₁) is a hypothesis set up to be rejected in order to support the null hypothesis (H₀) is false. In hypothesis testing, the null hypothesis (H₀) is the statement that is initially assumed to be true, while the alternative hypothesis (H₁) represents a claim about the population that is contradictory to the null hypothesis. When we reject the null hypothesis, we do so because the evidence suggests support for the alternative hypothesis, not to support the null hypothesis.
If we reject the null hypothesis based on statistical testing, it implies that there is enough evidence to support the alternative hypothesis. However, it's important to remember that we cannot say with absolute certainty that the claim is proven true or false. Hypothesis testing deals with probabilities and making decisions under uncertainty. Significantly, the purpose of the alternative hypothesis is not to confirm the null hypothesis but to provide a platform for testing if there is significant evidence to believe in an effect or difference that the null hypothesis claims doesn't exist.