Comparing Two Independent Sample Means (T-test)

With Homogeneity of Variance Used to compare two sample means. The independent variable is nominal level data and the dependent variable is interval/ratio level.

Problem: You have obtained the number of years of education from one random sample of 38 police officers from City A and the number of years of education from a second random sample of 30 police officers from City B. The average years of education for the sample from City A is 15 years with a standard deviation of 2 years. The average years of education for the sample from City B is 14 years with a standard deviation of 2.5 years. Is there a statistically significant difference between the education levels of police officers in City A and City B? Assumptions Random sampling Independent samples Interval/ratio level data Organize data City A (labeled sample 1) City B (labeled sample 2)

State Hypotheses Ho: There is no statistically significant difference between the mean education level of police officers working in City A and the mean education level of police officers working in City B.

For a 2-tailed hypothesis test Ha: There is a statistically significant difference between the mean education level of police officers working in City A and the mean education level of police officers working in City B.

For a 1-tailed hypothesis test Ha: The mean education level of police officers working in City A is significantly greater than the mean education level of police officers working in City B. Set the Rejection Criteria

Determine the degrees of freedom (df) = (n1+n2)-2

df = 38+30-2=66

Determine level of confidence -- alpha (1 or 2-tailed test) Use the t-distribution table to determine the critical value If using 2-tailed test Alpha.05, tcv= 1.997 If using 1-tailed test Alpha.05, tcv= 1.668

Compute Test Statistic Standard error

Test Statistic

Decide Results If using 2-tailed test There is no statistically significant difference between the mean years of education for police officers in City A and mean years of education for police officers in City B. (note: the test statistic 1.835 does not meet or exceed the critical value of 1.997 for a 2-tailed test.)