Pt BD Sharma PGIMS

Pt BD Sharma University of Health Sciences

Rohtak, Haryana
INDIA, PIN:124001

Facilyitator: Hitesh Khurana,

Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Insttute of Mental Health
e-mail: doctorhitesh@redifmail. com

Date: 19 th January, 2018 Venue: Seminar Room , Time:3-4PM

COMPARISON OF MEANS OF INDEPENDENT SMALL SAMPLES (t-test)

“if two observatons have been made and we have no other informaton, it is an even chance that the mean of the
populaton will lie between them” (Student 1908, p. 13).

Statstcal comparison of means: p procedure to evaluate the diference between two or more mean values at a set
value of α (commonly chosen is 0.05)
.
Factors contributnn towards comparison of means:
1. How large is the diference between the means of the two groups?
2. How much overlap is there between the groups?
3. How many subjects are in the two samples?
4. What alpha level is being used to test the mean diference?
5. Is a directonal (one-tailed) or non-directonal (two-tailed) hypothesis being tested?

The t-Test: We use this statstcal test to compare our sample populatons and determine if there is a signifcant
diference between their means. The result of the t-test is a ‘t’i value; this value is then used to determine the p-
value.
The t score is a rato between the diference between two groups and the diference within the groups.
• p large t-score tells you that the groups are diferent.
• p small t-score tells you that the groups are similar.

The t distributon: Bell shaped like normal distributon , ranging from – infnity to infnity,with greater dispersion
and fater peak as compared to normal distributon; with df ≥30 , t distributon resemble normal distribiton.

Assumptons Underlyiinn the t test

1. The samples have been randomly drawn from their respectve populatons
2. The scores in the populaton are normally distributed
3. The scores in the populatons have the same variance (s1=s2)

Tipes of t-tests:There are two types of t-tests, the unpaired and paired t-test
Unpaired t-test:This type of t-test is used when you have independent samples. In other words your samples
are not directly related to one another.
Paired t-test: In this t-test the individual observatons are related.

M.Phil(Clinical Psychology) -II 2018 Page 1of 2

 One samplye t-test: It tests the mean of a single group against a known mean; using t test as a goodness of
ft test.

Reportnn a t test: take care of t value, degrees of freedom, α , single or two tailed test. State it in the language of
hypothesis.

Applyicatons of t test:
1. ps a noodness of fit test , to know if the sample mean and hypothesised populaton mean difer signifcantly.
2. Hipothesis testnn in an experimental situaton to know if two independent samples difer from each other .
3. To see the impact of an interventon in pre-post and similyar situatons.
4. To study the strennth of correlyaton between two variables

Think it over
1. t-test and z test both follow orthant distributon , normal distributon and t distributons are variant of orthant
distributon
2. The basic diference between the z- and t-tests is that the t-statstc estmates standard error by using the
sample standard deviaton, while the z-statstc utlizes the populaton standard deviaton
3. t test gives a t value that can be interpreted very similar to z statstc,i. e. both test tell how many standard units
apart the two means under comparison are.
4. Power to t test paired>independent> single sample t test
5. Welsch test is a modifed t test to accommodate errors due to departures from homoscendastcity
6. The functon t. test in excel can not be used for single sample t test.
7. pNOVp is not a sustitute of t test for comparing multple means.

Queston -Answers

Excercises

Recommended readinn
Student. (1908). The probablye error of a mean. Biometrika, 6(1), 1–25.( Orininaly paper bi WS Gosset on t test)
Garret, H. E. (1937). Statstcs in psychology and educaton (2nd ed.). Statstcs in psychology and educaton (2nd
ed.). (Tenth Indi). Mumbai: pF Shaikh for Vakils Fefer and Simons Ltd. Retrieved from (useful for detailed
understanding and excersises)

Kim, T. K. (2015). T test as a parametric statstc. Korean Journal of Anaesthisiology, 68(6), 541–546. (for SPSS output
details and homoscedastcity)

M.Phil(Clinical Psychology) -II 2018 Page 2of 2