Hypothesis Tests with Means of Prepared by:

Samples Jhunar John M. Tauy, RPm

 Distribution of
Means
• distributions of means of samples of
a given size from a population
• also called sampling distribution of
mean
• comparison distribution when
testing hypotheses involving a single
sample of more than one individual
 Determining the
Characteristics of a
Distribution of Means

Rule 1 : The mean of a distribution

of means is the same as the mean
of the population of individuals.

µM = µ
 Mean of a
Distribution of Means

• the mean of a distribution of

means of samples of a given size
from a population
• it comes out to be the same as
the mean of the population of
individuals
 Determining the
Characteristics of a
Distribution of Means
•Rule
  2a: The variance of a
distribution of means is the
variance of the population of
individuals divided by the number
of individuals in each sample.
 Determining the
Characteristics of a
Distribution of Means
• 
Rule 2b: The SD of a distribution of
means is the square root of the
variance of the distribution of
means.
 Standard Error of
Mean (SEM)

• same as standard deviation of a

distribution of means
• also called Standard Error (SE)
 Determining the
Characteristics of a
Distribution of Means

Rule 3: The shape of a distribution

of means is approximately normal
if either (a) each sample is of 30 or
more individuals; (b) the
distribution of the population of
individuals is normal
 Example of Determining
the Characteristics of a
Distribution of Means

Suppose the distribution is

approximately normal with a mean
of 200 and a standard deviation of
48. What will be the characteristics
of the distribution of means for
samples of 64 students?
Comparison of Three Types of Distribution
 Hypothesis Testing with a
Distribution of Means:
(Z – Test)
•  hypothesis-testing
procedure in which there
is a single sample and the
population variance/SD is
known.
 Example 1

Suppose your sample’s mean

is 18 and the distribution of
means has a mean of 10 and a
standard deviation of 4. What
is the z-score of the sample
mean?
 The social psychologist asks 64 randomly selected
students to rate the attractiveness of a particular
person in a photograph. Prior to rating the
attractiveness of the person, each student is told that
the person has positive personality qualities
(kindness, warmth, a sense of humor, and
intelligence). On a scale of 0 (the lowest possible
attractiveness) to 400 (the highest possible
Example 2 attractiveness), the mean attractiveness rating given
by the 64 students is 220. From extensive previous
research, the psychologist knows the distribution of
attractiveness ratings of the person in the photograph
(when there has been no mention of the person’s
personality qualities). Those ratings when nothing is
mentioned about the personality have a mean of 200
and a standard deviation of 48, and they follow an
approximately normal distribution.
 Suppose a researcher wants to test the effect
of a communication skills workshop on
students’ use of verbal fillers during a
presentation. Verbal fillers are words such as
“um,” “uh,” and “you know” that people
commonly use in conversations and when
giving presentations. The researcher
Example 3 conducts a study in which 25 students attend
communication skills workshops and then
give a half-hour presentation on a topic of
their choice. The presentations are recorded
and the researcher later counts the number
of verbal fillers each student used during his
or her presentation.
 In this fictional example, we assume it is
known from previous studies that students
typically use a mean of 53 verbal fillers during
a half-hour presentation of this kind, with a
standard deviation of 7, and the distribution
of verbal fillers follows a normal curve. The
Example 3 25 students who took a communication skills
(cont.) workshop used a mean of 48 verbal fillers.
The researcher wants to carry out the Z test
using the 1% significance level, and an effect
in either direction would be important (that
is, the researcher is interested in whether
communications workshops could increase or
decrease the use of verbal fillers).
 Advanced Topic:
(Estimation, Standard Errors,
and Confidence Intervals)
Confidence Interval (CI)
• roughly speaking, the range of scores (that
is, the scores between an upper and lower
value) that is likely to include the true
population mean;
• more precisely, the range of possible
population means from which it is not
highly unlikely that you could have
obtained your sample mean.
 Advanced Topic:
(Estimation, Standard Errors,
and Confidence Intervals)

Confidence Interval (CI)

• 95% or 99% Confidence
Intervals
 Steps in Figuring
Confidence Limits
1. Figure the Standard Error
2. For the 95% confidence interval,
figure the raw scores for 1.96
standard errors above and below
the sample mean; for the 99%
confidence interval, figure the raw
scores for 2.58 standard errors
above and below the sample mean