For each of the following would you be more likely to use a

For each of the following, would you be more likely to use a paired-samples or independent-samples t-test? Also, would it be one-tailed or two-tailed?

a Is employee performance higher before or after annual bonuses are paid?

b Is there a difference in sales between Company A and Company B?

c Is there a difference in employee satisfaction between men and women?

d Are employees more productive in the morning than in the evening?

Solution

(a)

Here we are comparing the same employees performance before and after annual bonuses are paid so paired samples t-test will be used.

Here we want to test whether is performance is greater than before bonus in comparison to after bonus. So test is one tailed. If differences are before -after, then alternative hypothesis will be right tailed.

(b)

Since companies A and B are independent so indepepdent sample t-test will be used. Since we want whether there is a difference or not so two tailed test will be used.

(c)

Since samples of men and women are independent so indepepdent sample t-test will be used. Since we want whether there is a difference or not so two tailed test will be used.

(d)

Here we are comparing the same employees performance is better in morning or in evening so paired samples t-test will be used.

Here we want to test whether is performance is greater than in the morning than in the evening so test is one tailed. If differences are morning -evening, then alternative hypothesis will be right tailed.