Inferential Statistics: t-Tests

Hypothesis testing permits investigators to generalize study results from a sample to the population. This chapter introduces this statistical procedure and the analysis of the difference between two treatments using the t-test of significance. Also, it discusses when, why, and how to appropriately perform a t-test and to present the results. Three types of t-tests will be discussed in this chapter, as well as the conditions under which each of these types is appropriate. Examples are given to demonstrate the procedures of these three types of t-tests using SPSS software.