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LESSON 6

PARAMETRIC TEST

A parameter in statistics refers to an aspect of a population, as opposed to a statistic, which

refers to an aspect about a sample. For example, the population mean is a parameter, while
the sample mean is a statistic. A parametric statistical test makes an assumption about the
population parameters and the distributions that the data came from. These types of test
includes Student’s T-tests and ANOVA tests, which assume data is from a normal distribution.

The opposite is a nonparametric test, which doesn’t assume anything about the population
parameters. Nonparametric tests include chi-square, Fisher’s exact test and the Mann-Whitney
test.

Every parametric test has a nonparametric equivalent. For example, if you have parametric
data from two independent groups, you can run a 2 sample t-test to compare means. If you
have nonparametric data, you can run a Wilcoxon rank-sum test to compare means.

One-Tailed or Two-Tailed Test

Accepting or rejecting the null hypothesis exposed a researcher in committing errors. These
errors will be measured by setting the level of significance. Setting the level of significance will
help the researcher in identifying the percentage of errors he committed. The range values
were found on table which will help a researcher in making decision whether to accept or to
reject the null hypothesis. This range of value will be dependent on the type of test to be used,
as to one-tailed or two-tailed test. The type of test to be used as one-tailed or two-tailed is
identified by the very way how the alternative hypothesis is stated.

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1. One-Tailed Test

In one-tailed test, the alternative hypothesis is stated one directional. In one directional
statement of the alternative hypothesis, only one meaning can be interpreted from it. Since
the test is one-tailed, the area occupied by the range in the tabular value lies on one end of
the curve.

2. Two-Tailed Test
When the alternative hypothesis is stated non-directional. Non-directional means that two or
more ideas could be interpreted from the very way the alternative hypothesis is stated.

Example 1: A government official claims that the dropout rate for local schools is 25%. Last
year, 190 out of 603 students dropped out. Is there enough evidence to reject the government
official’s claim?

Example 2: A government official claims that the dropout rate for local schools is less than
25%. Last year, 190 out of 603 students dropped out. Is there enough evidence to reject the
government official’s claim?

Example 3: A government official claims that the dropout rate for local schools is greater than
25%. Last year, 190 out of 603 students dropped out. Is there enough evidence to reject the
government official’s claim?

Step 1: Read the question.

Step 2: Rephrase the claim in the question with an equation.
In example 1, Drop out rate = 25%
In example 2, Drop out rate < 25%
In example 3, Drop out rate > 25%.
Step 3: If step 2 has an equals sign in it, this is a two-tailed test. If it has > or < it is a one-tailed
test.

1. Alpha levels
Alpha levels (sometimes just called “significance levels”) are used in hypothesis tests; it is the
probability of making the wrong decision when the null hypothesis is true.

A one-tailed test has the entire 5% of the alpha level in one tail (in either the left, or the right
tail).

A two-tailed test splits your alpha level in half. Let’s say you’re working with the standard
alpha level of 0.5 (5%). A two tailed test will have half of this (2.5%) in each tail.
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Very simply, the hypothesis test might go like this:

1. A null hypothesis might state that the mean = x. You’re testing if the mean is way above
this or way below.
2. You run a t-test, which churns out a t-statistic.
3. If this test statistic falls in the top 2.5% or bottom 2.5% of its probability distribution (in this
case, the t-distribution), you would reject the null hypothesis.

The “cut off” areas created by your alpha levels are called rejection regions. It’s where you
would reject the null hypothesis, if your test statistic happens to fall into one of those rejection
areas. The terms “one tailed” and “two tailed” can more precisely be defined as referring to
where your rejection regions are located.

2. Power
A one-tailed test is where you are only interested in one direction. If a mean is x, you might
want to know if a set of results is more than x or less than x. A one-tailed test is
more powerful than a two-tailed test, as you aren’t considering an effect in the opposite
direction.

3. When Should You Use Either?

In the above examples, you were given specific wording like “greater than” or “less than.”
Sometimes you, the researcher, do not have this information and you have to choose the test.
For example, you develop a drug which you think is just as effective as a drug already on the
market (it also happens to be cheaper). You could run a two-tailed test (to test that it is more
effective and to also check that it is less effective). But you don’t really care about it

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being more effective, just that it isn’t any less effective (after all, your drug is cheaper). You can
run a one-tailed test to check that your drug is at least as effective as the existing drug.

On the other hand, it would be inappropriate (and perhaps, unethical) to run a one-tailed
test for this scenario in the opposite direction (i.e. to show the drug is more effective). This
sounds reasonable until you consider there may be certain circumstances where the drug is less
effective. If you fail to test for that, your research will be useless.

Consider both directions when deciding if you should run a one tailed test or two. If you can
skip one tail and it’s not irresponsible or unethical to do so, then you can run a one-tailed test.

Steps in Testing the Null Hypothesis

1. Formulate the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis.
2. Set the level of significance.
3. Determine the type of test to be used.
4. Compute; established the critical region
5. Decision Rule.

The T-Test
The t-test tells you how significant the differences between groups are; In other words it lets
you know if those differences (measured in means) could have happened by chance.

Example 1: Let’s say you have a cold and you try a naturopathic remedy. Your cold lasts a
couple of days. The next time you have a cold, you buy an over-the-counter pharmaceutical
and the cold lasts a week. You survey your friends and they all tell you that their colds were of
a shorter duration (an average of 3 days) when they took the homeopathic remedy. What
you really want to know is, are these results repeatable? A t-test can tell you by comparing the
means of the two groups and letting you know the probability of those results happening by
chance.

Example 2: Student’s T-tests can be used in real life to compare averages. For example, a drug
company may want to test a new cancer drug to find out if it improves life expectancy. In an
experiment, there’s always a control group (a group who are given a placebo, or “sugar pill”).
The control group may show an average life expectancy of +5 years, while the group taking
the new drug might have a life expectancy of +6 years. It would seem that the drug might
work. But it could be due to a fluke. To test this, researchers would use a Student’s t-test to
find out if the results are repeatable for an entire population.

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There are three main types of t-test:

1. An Independent Samples T-test compares the means for two groups.
2. A Paired T-test/ Paired Sample T-test/ Dependent Sample T-test compares means
from the same group at different times (say, one year apart).
3. A One Sample T-test tests the mean of a single group against a known mean.

What is a Paired T-Test (Paired Samples T-Test / Dependent Samples T Test)?

A paired t-test (also called a correlated pairs t-test, a paired samples t-test or dependent
samples t-test) is where you run a t-test on dependent samples. Dependent samples are
essentially connected — they are tests on the same person or thing.

For example:
1. Knee MRI costs at two different hospitals,
2. Two tests on the same person before and after training,
3. Two blood pressure measurements on the same person using different equipment.

Example: Paired T-test

1. The marks for a group of students before (pre) and after (post) a teaching
intervention are recorded below. Calculate a paired t-test for the following data:
Student No. Score 1 Score 2
1 3 20
2 3 13
3 3 13
4 12 20
5 15 29
6 16 32
7 17 23
8 19 20
9 23 25
10 24 15
11 32 30

Solution:

Step 1: Formulate the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis.

H0: There is no significant difference between the pre- and post-marks
Ha: There is a significant difference between the pre- and post-marks

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Step 2: Set the level of significance.

If you don’t have a specified alpha level, use 0.05 (5%).

Step 3: Determine the type of test to be used.

Paired T-test

Step 4: Compute; established the critical region

1. Subtract each y score from each x score, then add up all the differences:

Student No. Score 1 (x) Score 2 (y) x-y

1 3 20 -17
2 3 13 -10
3 3 13 -10
4 12 20 -8
5 15 29 -14
6 16 32 -16
7 17 23 -6
8 19 20 -1
9 23 25 -2
10 24 15 9
11 32 30 2
 D  73
2. Square the differences from no. 1, then add up all the squared differences:
Student No. Score 1 (x) Score 2 (y) x-y (x - y)2
1 3 20 -17 289
2 3 13 -10 100
3 3 13 -10 100
4 12 20 -8 64
5 15 29 -14 196
6 16 32 -16 256
7 17 23 -6 36
8 19 20 -1 1
9 23 25 -2 4
10 24 15 9 81
11 32 30 2 4
 D  73  D  1131
2

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3. Use the formula to calculate the t-score:

D
t N
  D 2 
 D   N 
2

 
N  1N 

where:
 D = Sum of the differences (sum of x - y)
 D = Sum of the squared differences
2

 D  = Sum of the differences, squared

2

N = Total number of cases

 73
t 11
  732 
1131   

 11 
11  111

 73
t 11
 5329 
1131   
 11 
110
t  2.74

4. Subtract 1 from the sample size to get the degrees of freedom. (df = N-1)
We have 11 items, so
df = 11-1
df = 10
5. Find the tabular value in the t-table, using the level of significance and the degrees of
freedom in no. 4.
For this sample problem, with df = 10, the tabular value(critical region) is 2.228.

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Step 5: Decision Rule.

The computed t-value (-2.74) is greater than the tabular value (2.228) at an alpha level 0.05,
we therefore reject the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference between means.

Note: You can ignore the minus sign when comparing the two t-values, as ± indicates the
direction; the p-value remains the same for both directions.

References:
https://byjus.com/maths/statistical-inference/
https://www.uibk.ac.at/statistics/personal/janettewalde/lehre/phd_biology/advanced_statistics.
pdf
http://www.paolocoletti.it/books/AdvancedStatistics.pdf
https://www.statisticshowto.com/parametric-statistics
https://www.statisticshowto.com/probability-and-statistics/hypothesis-testing/one-tailed-test-
or-two/
https://www.statisticshowto.com/probability-and-statistics/t-test/

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