The Independent Samples t Test compares the means of two independent groups on a continuous dependent variable to determine if there is a statistically significant difference between the population means. It requires independent observations, random sampling, normally distributed data, homogeneity of variances between the groups, and no outliers. It is commonly used to compare the means of two groups, interventions, or change scores. Alternative tests exist for when its assumptions are violated.
The Independent Samples t Test compares the means of two independent groups on a continuous dependent variable to determine if there is a statistically significant difference between the population means. It requires independent observations, random sampling, normally distributed data, homogeneity of variances between the groups, and no outliers. It is commonly used to compare the means of two groups, interventions, or change scores. Alternative tests exist for when its assumptions are violated.
The Independent Samples t Test compares the means of two independent groups on a continuous dependent variable to determine if there is a statistically significant difference between the population means. It requires independent observations, random sampling, normally distributed data, homogeneity of variances between the groups, and no outliers. It is commonly used to compare the means of two groups, interventions, or change scores. Alternative tests exist for when its assumptions are violated.
The Independent Samples t Test compares the means of two independent groups on a continuous dependent variable to determine if there is a statistically significant difference between the population means. It requires independent observations, random sampling, normally distributed data, homogeneity of variances between the groups, and no outliers. It is commonly used to compare the means of two groups, interventions, or change scores. Alternative tests exist for when its assumptions are violated.
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At a glance
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The key takeaways are that there are different types of t-tests including one sample t-test, paired samples t-test, and independent samples t-test. The one sample t-test compares a sample mean to a hypothesized population mean, while the paired samples t-test compares means from the same subjects across two time points. The independent samples t-test compares means between two independent groups.
The different types of t-tests are the one sample t-test, paired samples t-test, and independent samples t-test. The one sample t-test compares a sample mean to a hypothesized population mean. The paired samples t-test compares means from the same subjects across two time points. The independent samples t-test compares means between two independent groups.
The assumptions of the one sample t-test are that the test variable is continuous, scores are independent, the sample is randomly selected from the population, the distribution is approximately normal, variances are approximately equal, and there are no outliers.
T TEST
One Sample t Test
The One Sample t Test determines whether the sample mean is statistically different from a known or hypothesized population mean. The One Sample t Test is a parametric test. This test is also known as: Single Sample t Test The variable used in this test is known as: Test variable In a One Sample t Test, the test variable is compared against a "test value", which is a known or hypothesized value of the mean in the population. Common Uses The One Sample t Test is commonly used to test the following: Statistical difference between a sample mean and a known or hypothesized value of the mean in the population. Statistical difference between the sample mean and the sample midpoint of the test variable. Statistical difference between the sample mean of the test variable and chance. This approach involves first calculating the chance level on the test variable. The chance level is then used as the test value against which the sample mean of the test variable is compared. Statistical difference between a change score and zero. This approach involves creating a change score from two variables, and then comparing the mean change score to zero, which will indicate whether any change occurred between the two time points for the original measures. If the mean change score is not significantly different from zero, no significant change occurred. Note:
The One Sample t Test can only compare a single
sample mean to a specified constant. It can not compare sample means between two or more groups. If you wish to compare the means of multiple groups to each other, you will likely want to run an Independent Samples t Test (to compare the means of two groups) or a One-Way ANOVA (to compare the means of two or more groups). Data Requirement 1. Your data must meet the following requirements: 2. Test variable that is continuous (i.e., interval or ratio level) 3. Scores on the test variable are independent (i.e., independence of observations) There is no relationship between scores on the test variable Violation of this assumption will yield an inaccurate p value 4. Random sample of data from the population 5. Normal distribution (approximately) of the sample and population on the test variable Non-normal population distributions, especially those that are thick-tailed or heavily skewed, considerably reduce the power of the test Among moderate or large samples, a violation of normality may still yield accurate p values 6. Homogeneity of variances (i.e., variances approximately equal in both the sample and population) 7. No outliers Hypotheses
The null hypothesis (H0) and (two-tailed) alternative
hypothesis (H1) of the one sample T test can be expressed as: H0: µ = x ("the sample mean is equal to the [proposed] population mean") H1: µ ≠ x ("the sample mean is not equal to the [proposed] population mean") where µ is a constant proposed for the population mean and x is the sample mean. Test Statistics Paired Sample t Test The Paired Samples t Test compares two means that are from the same individual, object, or related units. The two means typically represent two different times (e.g., pre-test and post-test with an intervention between the two time points) or two different but related conditions or units (e.g., left and right ears, twins). The purpose of the test is to determine whether there is statistical evidence that the mean difference between paired observations on a particular outcome is significantly different from zero. The Paired Samples t Test is a parametric test. This test is also known as: Dependent t Test Paired t Test Repeated Measures t Test The variable used in this test is known as: Dependent variable, or test variable (continuous), measured at two different times or for two related conditions or units Common Uses
The Paired Samples t Test is commonly used to test
the following: Statistical difference between two time points Statistical difference between two conditions Statistical difference between two measurements Statistical difference between a matched pair Note The Paired Samples t Test can only compare the means for two (and only two) related (paired) units on a continuous outcome that is normally distributed. The Paired Samples t Test is not appropriate for analyses involving the following: 1) unpaired data; 2) comparisons between more than two units/groups; 3) a continuous outcome that is not normally distributed; and 4) an ordinal/ranked outcome. To compare unpaired means between two groups on a continuous outcome that is normally distributed, choose the Independent Samples t Test. To compare unpaired means between more than two groups on a continuous outcome that is normally distributed, choose ANOVA. To compare paired means for continuous data that are not normally distributed, choose the nonparametric Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test. To compare paired means for ranked data, choose the nonparametric Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test. Data Requirement Your data must meet the following requirements: Dependent variable that is continuous (i.e., interval or ratio level) Note: The paired measurements must be recorded in two separate variables. Related samples/groups (i.e., dependent observations) The subjects in each sample, or group, are the same. This means that the subjects in the first group are also in the second group. Random sample of data from the population Normal distribution (approximately) of the difference between the paired values No outliers in the difference between the two related groups Note: When testing assumptions related to normality and outliers, you must use a variable that represents the difference between the paired values - not the original variables themselves. Note: When one or more of the assumptions for the Paired Samples t Test are not met, you may want to run the nonparametric Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test instead. Hypotheses The hypotheses can be expressed in two different ways that express the same idea and are mathematically equivalent: H0: µ1 = µ2 ("the paired population means are equal") H1: µ1 ≠ µ2 ("the paired population means are not equal") OR H0: µ1 - µ2 = 0 ("the difference between the paired population means is equal to 0") H1: µ1 - µ2 ≠ 0 ("the difference between the paired population means is not 0") where µ1 is the population mean of variable 1, and µ2 is the population mean of variable 2. Test Statistics Independent Samples t Test The Independent Samples t Test compares the means of two independent groups in order to determine whether there is statistical evidence that the associated population means are significantly different. The Independent Samples t Test is a parametric test. This test is also known as: Independent t Test Independent Measures t Test Independent Two-sample t Test Student t Test Two-Sample t Test Uncorrelated Scores t Test Unpaired t Test Unrelated t Test Independent Samples t Test
The variables used in this test are known as:
Dependent variable, or test variable Independent variable, or grouping variable Common Uses The Independent Samples t Test is commonly used to test the following: Statistical differences between the means of two groups Statistical differences between the means of two interventions Statistical differences between the means of two change scores
Note: The Independent Samples t Test can only compare the
means for two (and only two) groups. It cannot make comparisons among more than two groups. If you wish to compare the means across more than two groups, you will likely want to run an ANOVA. Data Requirement 1. Your data must meet the following requirements: 2. Dependent variable that is continuous (i.e., interval or ratio level) 3. Independent variable that is categorical (i.e., two or more groups) 4. Cases that have values on both the dependent and independent variables 5. Independent samples/groups (i.e., independence of observations) There is no relationship between the subjects in each sample. This means that: a. Subjects in the first group cannot also be in the second group b. No subject in either group can influence subjects in the other group c. No group can influence the other group Violation of this assumption will yield an inaccurate p value Data Requirement 5. Random sample of data from the population 6. Normal distribution (approximately) of the dependent variable for each group Non-normal population distributions, especially those that are thick-tailed or heavily skewed, considerably reduce the power of the test Among moderate or large samples, a violation of normality may still yield accurate p values 7. Homogeneity of variances (i.e., variances approximately equal across groups) When this assumption is violated and the sample sizes for each group differ, the p value is not trustworthy. However, the Independent Samples t Test output also includes an approximate t statistic that is not based on assuming equal population variances; this alternative statistic, called the Welch tTest statistic1, may be used when equal variances among populations cannot be assumed. The Welch t Test is also known an Unequal Variance T Test or Separate Variances T Test. 8. No outliers Note When one or more of the assumptions for the Independent Samples t Test are not met, you may want to run the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U Test instead. Researchers often follow several rules of thumb: Each group should have at least 6 subjects, ideally more. Inferences for the population will be more tenuous with too few subjects. Roughly balanced design (i.e., same number of subjects in each group) are ideal. Extremely unbalanced designs increase the possibility that violating any of the requirements/assumptions will threaten the validity of the Independent Samples t Test. Hypotheses The null hypothesis (H0) and alternative hypothesis (H1) of the Independent Samples t Test can be expressed in two different but equivalent ways: H0: µ1 = µ2 ("the two population means are equal") H1: µ1 ≠ µ2 ("the two population means are not equal") OR H0: µ1 - µ2 = 0 ("the difference between the two population means is equal to 0") H1: µ1 - µ2 ≠ 0 ("the difference between the two population means is not 0") where µ1 and µ2 are the population means for group 1 and group 2, respectively. Notice that the second set of hypotheses can be derived from the first set by simply subtracting µ2 from both sides of the equation. Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances Recall that the Independent Samples t Test requires the assumption of homogeneity of variance -- i.e., both groups have the same variance. SPSS conveniently includes a test for the homogeneity of variance, called Levene's Test, whenever you run an independent samples T test. The hypotheses for Levene’s test are: H0: σ12 - σ22 = 0 ("the population variances of group 1 and 2 are equal") H1: σ12 - σ22 ≠ 0 ("the population variances of group 1 and 2 are not equal") This implies that if we reject the null hypothesis of Levene's Test, it suggests that the variances of the two groups are not equal; i.e., that the homogeneity of variances assumption is violated. Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances The output in the Independent Samples Test table includes two rows: Equal variances assumed and Equal variances not assumed. If Levene’s test indicates that the variances are equal across the two groups (i.e., p-value large), you will rely on the first row of output, Equal variances assumed, when you look at the results for the actual Independent Samples t Test (under t-test for Equality of Means). If Levene’s test indicates that the variances are not equal across the two groups (i.e., p-value small), you will need to rely on the second row of output, Equal variances not assumed, when you look at the results of the Independent Samples t Test (under the heading t-test for Equality of Means). The difference between these two rows of output lies in the way the independent samples t test statistic is calculated. When equal variances are assumed, the calculation uses pooled variances; when equal variances cannot be assumed, the calculation utilizes un-pooled variances and a correction to the degrees of freedom. Test Statistics Test Statistics Reference: