As a social scientist, you will often construct research designs that require some sort of comparison between groups. When constructing hypothesis tests, the t test allows you to evaluate estimates from samples to determine if differences exist between these groups in the population. You might want to know whether a specific educational intervention has benefit, whether a training program works, or under what conditions employees are most effective. These are just a few examples where you might make comparisons between two groups. The t test’s roots lie in solving practical questions about industrial quality control, which has led to it becoming one of the most fundamental and widely used tests in classical statistics.

In this week, you will examine t tests. In your examination, you will construct research questions, evaluate research design, and analyze results related to t tests. You also will critically evaluate research related to t tests.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Construct research questions
• Analyze research design through research questions
• Evaluate t Tests
• Analyze implications of t Tests results
• Evaluate assumptions of t Tests
• Analyze implications for social change
• Evaluate research related to t Tests

Learning Resources

Required Readings

Frankfort-Nachmias, C., & Leon-Guerrero, A. (2018). Social statistics for a diverse society (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

• Chapter 8, “Testing Hypothesis” (pp. 204-234)

Wagner, III, W. E. (2020). Using IBM® SPSS® statistics for research methods and social science statistics (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

• Chapter 6, “Testing Hypotheses Using Means and Cross-Tabulation” (previously read in Week 5)
• Chapter 11, “Editing Output” (previously read in Week 2, 3, and 4)

Walden University Library. (n.d.). Course Guide and Assignment Help for RSCH 8210. Retrieved from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/rsch8210
For help with this week’s research, see this Course Guide and related weekly assignment resources.

Document: Week 6 t test Scenarios (PDF)
Use these scenarios to complete this week’s Assignment.

Document: Walden University: Research Design Alignment Table

Datasets

Document: Data Set 2014 General Social Survey (dataset file)
Use this dataset to complete this week’s Discussion.
Note: You will need the SPSS software to open this dataset.

Document: Data Set Afrobarometer (dataset file)
Use this dataset to complete this week’s Assignment.
Note: You will need the SPSS software to open this dataset.

Document: High School Longitudinal Study 2009 Dataset (dataset file)
Use this dataset to complete this week’s Assignment.
Note: You will need the SPSS software to open this dataset.

Required Media

Laureate Education (Producer). (2016l). The t test for independent samples [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 5 minutes.
In this media program, Dr. Matt Jones, demonstrates the t Test for independent samples in SPSS.

Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript

Laureate Education (Producer). (2016m). The t test for related samples [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 5 minutes.
In this media program, Dr. Matt Jones, demonstrates the t test for related samples in SPSS.

Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript

Optional Resources

Klingenberg, B. (2016). Inference for comparing two population means. Retrieved from https://istats.shinyapps.io/2sample_mean/
Use the following app/weblink to enter your own data and obtain an interactive visual display.

Skill Builders:

• Research Design and Statistical Design
• Hypothesis Testing for Independent Samples t-test

To access these Skill Builders, navigate back to your Blackboard Course Home page, and locate “Skill Builders” in the left navigation pane. From there, click on the relevant Skill Builder link for this week.

To prepare for this Assignment:

• Review the Learning Resources and the media programs related to t tests.
• For additional support, review the Skill Builder: Research Design and Statistical Design and the Skill Builder: Hypothesis Testing for Independent Samples t-test, which you can find by navigating back to your Blackboard Course Home Page. From there, locate the Skill Builder link in the left navigation pane.
• Also, review the t test scenarios found in this week’s Learning Resources and consider the three different approaches of t tests:
  • Independent sample t test
  • Paired sample t test
  • One sample t test
• Based on each of the three research scenarios provided, open the High School Longitudinal Study dataset or the Afrobarometer dataset from this week’s Learning Resources using SPSS software, then choose and run the appropriate t test.
• Once you perform your t test analyses, review Chapter 11 of the Wagner text to understand how to copy and paste your output into your Word document.