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📚 Statistics with Technology 2e
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9.2 Paired Samples for Two Means

Are two populations the same? Is the average height of men taller than the average height of women? Is the mean weight less after a diet than before?

You can compare populations by comparing their means. You take a sample from each population and compare the statistics.

Anytime you compare two populations you need to know if the samples are independent or dependent. The formulas you use are different for different types of samples.

If how you choose one sample has no effect on the way you choose the other sample, the two samples are independent. The way to think about it is that in independent samples, the individuals from one sample are overall different from the individuals from the other sample. This will mean that sample one has no affect on sample two. The sample values from one sample are not related or paired with values from the other sample.

If you choose the samples so that a measurement in one sample is paired with a measurement from the other sample, the samples are dependent or matched or paired. (Often a before and after situation.) You want to make sure the there is a meaning for pairing data values from one sample with a specific data value from the other sample. One way to think about it is that in dependent samples, the individuals from one sample are the same individuals from the other sample, though there can be other reasons to pair values. This makes the sample values from each sample paired.

To analyze data when there are matched or paired samples, called dependent samples, you conduct a paired t-test. Since the samples are matched, you can find the difference between the values of the two random variables.

Hypothesis Test for Two Sample Paired t-Test

  1. State the random variables and the parameters in words.
    x1 = random variable 1
    x2 = random variable 2
    μ1 = mean of random variable 1
    μ2 = mean of random variable 2
  2. State the null and alternative hypotheses and the level of significance The usual hypotheses would be
    Ho:μ1=μ2 or Ho:μ1μ2=0HA:μ1<μ2HA:μ1μ2<0HA:μ1>μ2HA:μ1μ2>0HA:μ1μ2HA:μ1μ20
    However, since you are finding the differences, then you can actually think of μ1μ2=μσμd= population mean value of the differences,
    So the hypotheses become
    Ho:μd=0H1:μd<0HA:μd>0HA:μd0
    Also, state your α level here.
  3. State and check the assumptions for the hypothesis test
    1. A random sample of n pairs is taken.
    2. The population of the difference between random variables is normally distributed. In this case the population you are interested in has to do with the differences that you find. It does not matter if each random variable is normally distributed. It is only important if the differences you find are normally distributed. Just as before, the t-test is fairly robust to the assumption if the sample size is large. This means that if this assumption isn’t met, but your sample size is quite large (over 30), then the results of the t-test are valid.
  4. Find the sample statistic, test statistic, and p-value
    Sample Statistic:
    Difference: d=x1x2for each pair
    Sample mean of the differences: d=dn
    Standard deviation of the differences: sd=(dd)2n1
    Number of pairs: n
    Test Statistic:
    t=dμdsdn
    with degrees of freedom = df = n - 1 p-value:
    On TI-83/84: Use tcdf ( lower limit, upper limit, df ) On R: Use pt (t, df )
  5. This is where you write reject Ho or fail to reject Ho. The rule is: if the p-value < α, then reject Ho. If the p-value α, then fail to reject Ho.
  6. This is where you interpret in real world terms the conclusion to the test. The conclusion for a hypothesis test is that you either have enough evidence to show HA is true, or you do not have enough evidence to show HA is true.

Confidence Interval for Difference in Means from Paired Samples (t-Interval)

The confidence interval for the difference in means has the same random variables and means and the same assumptions as the hypothesis test for two paired samples. If you have already completed the hypothesis test, then you do not need to state them again. If you haven’t completed the hypothesis test, then state the random variables and means, and state and check the assumptions before completing the confidence interval step.

  1. Find the sample statistic and confidence interval
    Sample Statistic:
    Difference: d = x1x2
    Sample mean of the differences: d=dn
    Standard deviation of the differences: sd=(dd)2n1
    Number of pairs: n
    Confidence Interval:
    The confidence interval estimate of the difference μd=μ1μ2 is
    dE<μd<d+EE=tcsdn
    tc is the critical value where degrees of freedom df = n - 1
  2. Statistical Interpretation: In general this looks like, “there is a C% chance that the statement dE<μd<d+E contains the true mean difference.”
  3. Real World Interpretation: This is where you state what interval contains the true mean difference.

The critical value is a value from the Student’s t-distribution. Since a confidence interval is found by adding and subtracting a margin of error amount from the sample mean, and the interval has a probability of containing the true mean difference, then you can think of this as the statement P(dE<μd<d+E)=C. To find the critical value, you use table A.2 in the Appendix.

How to check the assumptions of t-test and confidence interval:

In order for the t-test or confidence interval to be valid, the assumptions of the test must be met. So whenever you run a t-test or confidence interval, you must make sure the assumptions are met. So you need to check them. Here is how you do this:

  1. For the assumption that the sample is a random sample, describe how you took the samples. Make sure your sampling technique is random and that the samples were dependent.
  2. For the assumption that the population of the differences is normal, remember the process of assessing normality from chapter 6.

Examples 9.2.2 and 9.2.4 use the same data set, but one is conducting a hypothesis test and the other is conducting a confidence interval. Notice that the hypothesis test’s conclusion was to reject Ho and say that there was a difference in the means, and the confidence interval does not contain the number 0. If the confidence interval did contain the number 0, then that would mean that the two means could be the same. Since the interval did not contain 0, then you could say that the means are different just as in the hypothesis test. This means that the hypothesis test and the confidence interval can produce the same interpretation. Do be careful though, you can run a hypothesis test with a particular significance level and a confidence interval with a confidence level that is not compatible with your significance level. This will mean that the conclusion from the confidence interval would not be the same as with a hypothesis test. So if you want to estimate the mean difference, then conduct a confidence interval. If you want to show that the means are different, then conduct a hypothesis test.

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