t- test Flashcards
What does a one sample hypothesis consist of?
These relate the mean of a sample to a prespecified comparison value.
E.g. Attendance in class is more than 80%
E.g. Medical doctor’s stress levels are higher than the average stress in the UK
(Null hypothesis states there’s no difference between the two)
What does a hypothesis do?
A hypothesis looks to compare the null hypothesis of no effect with the alternative hypothesis.
These don’t start on equal footing; we assume the null is true until proven otherwise.
Why do we need a null hypothesis?
- We start with the null and put the burden of proof on the alternative hypothesis.
- We know everything about our statistics when there is no effect
There are many ways for an effect to have occurred (alternative hypothesis) but there is only one way an effect cant occur (null hypothesis)
What is a test statistic designed to do?
show the extent to which a data sample is different to the null hypothesis
What’s the calculation for a one sample t- test?
T- value = (Mean observed data) minus (the comparison value) divided by (standard error of the mean observed data)
What’s the comparison value in a t- test?
the difference between our observations and our hypothesis
What is the standard error of the mean in a t- test?
tests how close a sample mean is to the population mean
What does a one sample t- test do?
tests whether the mean of a sample is different to a comparison value
How were tests done before the t- test was introduced?
the answer was to restrict analyses to very large samples where we can be confident in the standard deviation
But this is very impractical
What is the students t- test?
- When we have loads of data what we expect to see when the null is true is a normal distribution
- What the t- test allows us to do is with sample sizes we can adjust that expectation allowing us to account for the extra noise by expecting to see large t- values
- So when the sample size is small we need a bigger t value to see significance
What is a two sample hypothesis?
Independent samples hypotheses = e.g. Football players run 200m faster than rugby players (null would say they are the same/ no difference)
Dependant samples hypotheses = e.g. students attention spans are longer on days with fewer teaching sessions (null would say they are the same/ no difference)
What are independent and dependant samples also known as?
Within subjects design (dependent samples) (paired samples) (repeated measures)
Participants contribute to both conditions
Between subjects design (independent samples)
Each participant is contributing to a single condition
When should you use at-test?
- Comparisons of two group means or a single mean to a reference value
- Data must be interval or ratio type (as a t test needs both an interpretable mean and standard deviation)
- Assumptions must be met
What are the assumptions of a t- test?
- Appropriate data type
- Assumption of normality
- Data observations are independent
- Groups have equal variance
What is the calculation for independent samples t-test?
The difference between the two means of both groups, all divided by the pooled (put together) standard error of that difference
What does a big number at the top of a independent samples t test fraction cause?
The difference is large compared to our confidence in the estimate
What does a big number at the bottom of a independent samples t test fraction cause?
The difference is small compared to our confidence of the estimate
What does a large positive t- value mean in an independent samples?
the mean of group 1 is above the mean of group 2 (around 15 is large)
What does a near to 0 t value mean in independent samples?
the mean of group 1 is indistinguishable from the mean of group 2
What does a large negative t-value mean in an independent samples?
the mean of group 1 is below the mean of group 2
What is homogeneity of variance and what is the test for it?
- The levene’s test = tests for homogeneity of variance
- A significant levene’s test indicates that the groups are likely to have different variances
And therefore pooled estimate of standard deviation is not appropriate
What is the Welches t- test?
Uses an unpooled measure of standard deviation
Valid for when groups have different variance
What is the calculation for welches t- test?
The difference between the two means of both groups, all divided by the unpooled standard error of that difference
What is the paired/ dependant samples t-test?
- Compares the means of two dependant distributions
- computes a one sample t-test between the paired difference and zero