Test difference between two scores

Instructions: Fill in all of the gray boxes with the appropriate numbers for your data. The results will appear in the green box.

Sample or Group 1 Sample size 1 (# data points in group 1)= Average = Standard deviation 1 = 3100 31.68 7.29

Sample or Group 2 3000 32.15 11.37 = Sample size 2 (# data points in group 2) = Score 2 = Standard deviation 2

Level of confidence (i.e. 0.90 for 90%) = Difference between groups = Margin of error (+/-) = Confidence Interval =

0.95 0 0.478 (-0.5 ; 0.5) Is the difference significant at the 95% level of confidence? NO

Notes: - The sample size is the number of data points in the sample in the specific period you are analyzing. - The standard deviation can be determined in Excel using the STDEV function Assumptions: - Populations unknown; - Scores are normally distributed; - Groups or samples are INDEPENDENT

Definitions

Confidence interval The range around a survey result for which there is a high statistical probability that it contains the true population parameter. Confidence level The probability that a particular confidence interval will include the true population value. Tests of significance Tests for determining whether observed differences in a sample are sufficiently large as to be caused by something other than mere chance. T-test for means A statistical test used to determine whether a difference between two sample means is likely to reflect a real difference between the groups that the samples represent. Standard deviation A measure of the dispersion about the mean for a sample. The standard deviation is often denoted by the symbol s and is the square root of the variance. Z-test for proportions A statistical test used to determine whether a difference between two samples' proportions/percentages is likely to reflect a real difference between the groups that the samples represent.

How do we describe a statistically significant difference, if we find one?

When the z-score for two proportions or the t-score for two means reaches a certain level, we can say that the difference is statistically significant at the XX% (90%, 95%, 99%) level of confidence. What this means, in plainer language, is that we can be XX% sure that the difference we see between two samples reflects a real difference in the groups they represent.

Some Statistical Formulas