Chapter 9

Introduction to the t-statistic

PSY295 Spring 2003
Summerfelt
Overview
CLT or Central Limit Theorem
z-score
Standard error
t-score
Degrees of freedom
Learning Objectives
Know when to use the t statistic for hypothesis
testing
Understand the relationship between z and t
Understand the concept of degrees of freedom and
the t distribution
Perform calculations necessary to compute t
statistic
Sample mean & variance
estimated standard error for X-bar
Central limit theorem
Based on probability theory
Two steps
1. Take a given population and draw random samples
again and again
2. Plot the means from the results of Step 1 and it will
be a normal curve where the center of the curve is the
mean and the variation represents the standard error
Even if the population distribution is skewed, the
distribution from Step 2 will be normal!
Z-score Review
A sample mean (X-bar) approximates a population
mean ()
The standard error provides a measure of
how well a sample mean approximates the population mean
determines how much difference between X-bar and is
reasonable to expect just by chance
The z-score is a statistic used to quantify this inference




obtained difference between data and
hypothesis/standard distance expected by chance

X
z
Whats the problem with z?

Need to know the population mean and
variance!!! Not always available.
What is the t statistic?
Cousin of the z statistic that does not require the
population mean () or variance (
2
)to be known
Can be used to test hypotheses about a completely
unknown population (when the only information
about the population comes from the sample)
Required: a sample and a reasonable hypothesis
about the population mean ()
Can be used with one sample or to compare two
samples
When to use the t statistic?
For single samples/groups,
Whether a treatment causes a change in the population
mean
Sample mean consistent with hypothesized population
mean
For two samples,
Coming later!

Difference between X-bar and
Whenever you draw a sample and observe
there is a discrepancy or error between the
population mean and the sample mean
difference between sample mean and population
Called Sampling Error or Standard error of the
mean
Goal for hypothesis testing is to evaluate the
significance of discrepancy between X-bar &
Hypothesis Testing Two Alternatives
Is the discrepancy simply due to chance?
X-bar =
Sample mean approximates the population mean
Is the discrepancy more than would be expected
by chance?
X-bar
The sample mean is different the population mean

Standard error of the mean
In Chapter 8, we calculated the standard error
precisely because we had the population
parameters.
For the t statistic,
We use sample data to compute an Estimated
Standard Error of the Mean
Uses the exact same formula but substitutes the sample
variance for the unknown population variance
Or you can use standard deviation
Estimated standard error of mean
n
s
s
X
2

Or
n
s
s
X

Common confusion to avoid
Formula for sample variance and for estimated standard
error (is the denominator n or n-1?)
Sample variance and standard deviation are descriptive
statistics
Describes how scatted the scores are around the mean
Divide by n-1 or df
Estimated standard error is a inferential statistic
measures how accurately the sample mean describes the
population mean
Divide by n
The t statistic
The t statistic is used to test
hypotheses about an unknown
population mean () in situations
where the value of (
2
) is unknown.
T=obtained difference/standard error

Whats the difference between the t
formula and the z-score formula?

X
s
X
t

X
z
t and z
Think of t as an estimated z score
Estimation is due to the unknown population
variance (
2
)
With large samples, the estimation is good and the
t statistic is very close to z
In smaller samples, the estimation is poorer
Why?
Degrees of freedom is used to describe how well t
represents z
Degrees of freedom
df = n 1
Value of df will determine how well the
distribution of t approximates a normal one
With larger dfs, the distribution of the t statistic will
approximate the normal curve
With smaller dfs, the distribution of t will be flatter
and more spread out
t table uses critical values and incorporates df
Four step procedure for
Hypothesis Testing
Same procedure used with z scores
1. State hypotheses and select a value for
Null hypothesis always state a specific value for
2. Locate a critical region
Find value for df and use the t distribution table
3. Calculate the test statistic
Make sure that you are using the correct table
4. Make a decision
Reject or fail to reject null hypothesis
Example
GNC is selling a memory booster, should you use
it?
Construct a sample (n=25) & take it for 4 weeks
Give sample a memory test where is known to
be 56
Sample produced a mean of 59 with SS of 2400
Use =0.05
What statistic will you use? Why?
Steps
1. State Hypotheses and
alpha level
2. Locate critical region
(need to know n, df, &
)
3. Obtain the data and
compute test statistic
4. Make decision
1
2

n
SS
s
n
s
s
X
2

X
s
X
t