To explain, let’s use the one-sample t-test. You make this decision for all three of the t-tests for means.
You should make this decision before collecting your data or doing any calculations. When you define the hypothesis, you also define whether you have a one-tailed or a two-tailed test. Number of paired observations in sample minus 1, or: Sum of observations in each sample minus 2, or: Number of observations in sample minus 1, or: Unknown, use sample standard deviation of differences in paired measurements Unknown, use sample standard deviations for each group Sample average of the differences in paired measurements Mean difference in heart rate for a group of people before and after exercise is zero or not Mean heart rates for two groups of people are the same or not Mean heart rate of a group of people is equal to 65 or not Categorical or Nominal to define pairing within groupĭecide if the population mean is equal to a specific value or notĭecide if the population means for two different groups are equal or notĭecide if the difference between paired measurements for a population is zero or not.Categorical or Nominal to define groups.Examples are analysis of variance ( ANOVA ), Tukey-Kramer pairwise comparison, Dunnett's comparison to a control, and analysis of means (ANOM). Depending on the outcome, you either reject or fail to reject your null hypothesis. Next, you calculate a test statistic from your data and compare it to a theoretical value from a t-distribution. For example, when comparing two populations, you might hypothesize that their means are the same, and you decide on an acceptable probability of concluding that a difference exists when that is not true. How are t-tests used?įirst, you define the hypothesis you are going to test and specify an acceptable risk of drawing a faulty conclusion. A t-test may be used to evaluate whether a single group differs from a known value (a one-sample t-test), whether two groups differ from each other (an independent two-sample t-test), or whether there is a significant difference in paired measurements (a paired, or dependent samples t-test). A t-test (also known as Student's t-test) is a tool for evaluating the means of one or two populations using hypothesis testing.