Understanding t-tests
In this section, we will cover the Student’s t-test. This is a staple analysis, and some form of it is often used in hypothesis testing. Because of how useful it is, how often it comes up, and how relatively simple it is, a t-test is often the first inferential analysis data analysts learn. There are several different forms of this, but the main three are as follows:
- Independent t-test
- Dependent t-test
- One-sample t-test
These are pretty much what they sound like. An independent t-test, sometimes called an unpaired t-test, compares two groups that are independent of each other; the samples include different people or observations, gathered at different times, under different conditions. A dependent t-test, sometimes called a paired t-test, means that the two groups you are comparing are inherently related. If you collect data on a group of people at the start of the year and then collect data on the same group of people a year later...
