In Biology it is much more common to have to see if two groups have measurements

with different mean values.

Examples

1.Control organisms and experimentally treated ones.

2.Males and females of the same species.
3.Intracellular and extracellular fluid.
4.Cells from two different parts of the body.

This is difficult because both samples vary (eg)

To tell what the cut-off is we perform a 2 sample t test.

The Two Sample t Test

Purpose

To test whether the mean values of a measurement made on two separate

samples are different from each other.

Rationale

1.You calculate how different the means of the two samples are.
2.You compare that with a measure of how variable the difference between the
means of the two samples is.

Examining your Data by Eye

Look at Graphs showing the means ± SE for each sample

a) If the error bars do overlap, the means are not significantly different.
b) If the error bars do not overlap, the means may be significantly different.

Carrying out the Two Sample t Test

1.Construct a Null Hypothesis

The two populations have the same mean.
2.Calculate the test statistic, t

 
2 2
(√[(SE1)  + (SE2) ] is called the Standard Error of Difference, SEd)
3.Compare the absolute value of t, |t| , with the critical value for 5% significance
(see the t table) with (N + M - 2) degrees of freedom. (N and M = sample
sizes).
4.If |t| < tcrit then there is a greater than 5% probability of this happening by
chance, which means that you have no evidence to reject the null hypothesis. If
|t| > tcrit then there is a less than 5% probability of this happening by chance
and you do have evidence to reject the null hypothesis and you can say the two
means are significantly different from each other.

Example:
Comparing the Longevity of Control and Irradiated Worms

Samples of 16 worms were taken from each group. The results are summarized below.

Control Irradiated
Mean 21.3 days 20.5
Standard deviation 3.4 3.7
Standard Error 0.85 0.93

Does irradiation significantly alter longevity?

Solution

1) The null hypothesis is that there is no difference between the longevity of the two
groups.

2) 

3) There are 16 worms in each group, so there are (16 + 16 - 2 = 30) degrees of
freedom. The critical value of t for 5% at 30 degrees of freedom t30 = 2.042.

4) 0.63 < 2.042. Therefore there is a greater than 5% probability of this happening by

chance.
We have no evidence to reject the null hypothesis

Irradiated and control worms do not have significantly different longevity.