2/4/2019

PED 703:
Research Methods – Quantitative
Topic 4
An Introduction to Group Comparing
T-tests

Dr Kamal Ahmed Soomro

Department of Education
Institute of Business Management

What is a T test?
• Also called Student’s T Test

• compares two averages (means) and tells you if they are

different from each other.

• The t test also tells you how significant the differences are;
In other words it lets you know if those differences could
have happened by chance.

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Types of t tests
• An Independent Samples t-test (or two sample t test)
compares the means for two groups.

• A Paired sample t-test compares means from the same

group at different times (say, one year apart).

• A One sample t-test tests the mean of a single group

against a known mean.

Examples: Independent Sample t-test

• Are there significant differences in exam performance of
male and female students in Maths class?

• H0: μm = μf

• Ha: μm ≠ μf

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Examples: Paired Sample t-test

• Are there significant differences in exam anxiety of math
students before the training and after the training?

• H0: μb = μa

• Ha: μb ≠ μa

Example: One-Sample t test

• Do the average exam performance of Karachi students
significantly differ from the average performance of
students around the country (60 out of 100)?

• H0: x̄ = μ

• Ha: x̄ ≠ μ

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Independent sample t test Assumptions

– Independent observation
– At least interval level of measurement
– Normally distributed dependent variables
– Homogeneity of variance

Independent Samples T Test in SPSS

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Independent Samples T Test in SPSS

The T Score
• The t score is a ratio between the difference between two
groups and the difference within the groups.

• The larger the t-score, the more difference there is

between groups. The smaller the t-score, the more
similarity there is between groups.

• A t-score of 3 means that the groups are three times as

different from each other as they are within each other.
When you run a t-test, the bigger the t-value, the more
likely it is that the results are repeatable..

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p-values
• Every t-value has a p-value to go with it. A p-value is the
probability that the results from your sample data occurred
by chance.

• P-values are from 0% to 100%. They are usually written as a

decimal.

• Low p-values are good; They indicate your data did not
occur by chance. For example, a p-value of .01 means there
is only a 1% probability that the results from an experiment
happened by chance. In most cases, a p-value of 0.05 (5%)
is accepted.
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So how do I write this up?

Follow these steps and put it all in paragraph form within the research
context that generated the data:
– Test type and use
– Give descriptive statistics
– Describe findings from checking assumptions
– Give results of basic analysis

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So how do I write this up?

“An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare (your DV
measure) _________ in (IV level / condition 1) ________and (IV level
/ condition 2)________ conditions.”

“An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare exam performance of

male and female students in a math class.”

So how do I write this up?

“There was a significant (not a significant) difference in the scores for
IV level 1 (M=___, SD=___) and IV level 2 (M=___, SD=___) conditions;
t(__)=____, p = ____”

“There was a significant difference in the exam performance of

male students (M=___, SD=___) and female (M=___, SD=___)
students; t(__)=____, p = ____”

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Practice
o Use “Pre-Post tests” spss file (available in the class folder)
to answer following research question:

 Are their significant gender differences in the time

spent on revising?
 Formulate hypothesis,
 conduct the analysis,
 interpret and report the results

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• Statistics How To (n.d). Retrieved from

https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/probability-and-
statistics/t-test/

• Statistics Help for Students.com (n.d) http://statistics-help-for-

students.com/How_do_I_report_independent_samples_T_test_data_in_APA_st
yle.htm#.W91hQdUzbIU

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