T test for independent groups and dependent groups (Two-group designs)

1. An LU professor is interested in whether there is a difference between undergraduate students and graduate students in the amount of time spent praying each day. The professor gathers information from random samples of undergraduate and graduate students on the LU campus. The amount of time praying is normally distributed and is measured on an interval/ratio scale.

Graduate Undergraduate

15                9

17               11

10                9

13                6

11                5

17                6

a. What statistical test should be used to analyze the data?

b. Is this a one- or two tailed test?

c. Identify H0 and Ha for this study.

d. Conduct the appropriate analysis. Should H0 be rejected?

2. A teacher wants to investigate whether there is a difference between male and female students in the amount of time they spend studying for statistics. The table below shows the amount of time students spend studying statistics each week. The amounts of time spent studying are normally distributed.

Male       Female

27            25

25            29

19            18

10            23

16            20

17            15

15            19

a. What statistical test should be used to analyze the data?

b. Is this a one- or two tailed test?

c. Identify H0 and Ha for this study.

d. Conduct the appropriate analysis. Should H0 be rejected?

3. A researcher is interested in whether listening to music helps or hinders test-performance. To control for differences in cognitive level, this researcher decides to use a within-participants design. He selects a random sample of participants and has them study different material of equal difficulty in both the music and no music conditions. Participants take a 20-item quiz on the material. The table below shows the scores on the quiz. The study is completely counterbalanced to control for order effects. The scores obtained are measured on an interval-ratio scale and are normally distributed.

Music         No Music

17                 17

16                 18

15                 17

16                 17

18                 19

18                 18

a. What statistical test should be used to analyze the data?

b. Is this a one- or two tailed test?

c. Identify H0 and Ha for this study.

d. Conduct the appropriate analysis. Should H0 be rejected? What should the researcher conclude?

e. Calculate the 95 confidence interval.