Astatistical procedure used to determine whether observed frequencies at each level of one categorical variable are similar to or different from frequencies expected, is called the chi-square:

In statistics, the chi-square test is used to prove a specific hypothesis, accepting or rejecting the null one. In order to find enough evidence to prove the hypothesis, we compare two group of frequencies, which belongs to two different groups (like a quasi-experimental design, with a control and experimental group). The researcher have set an expected frequency, based on the hypothesis, and then he/she will observe a frequency from the data recollected.

Therefore, by comparing this two frequencies (the expected with the observed), the researcher is able to demonstrate the hypothesis.