Introduction
The independent-samples t-test (or independent t-test, for short) compares the means between
two unrelated groups on the same continuous, dependent variable. For example, you can use
an independent t-test to determine whether knowledge on financial literacy of Commerce
students differed between two groups, male and female (i.e., your dependent variable would be
"knowledge on financial literacy " and your independent variable would be "sex", which has two
groups: "male" and "female"). Alternately, you can use an independent t-test to determine
whether there is a significant difference in clients' satisfaction towards E-banking services of a
certain bank when clients are grouped on job status (i.e., your dependent variable would be
"clients' satisfaction" and your independent variable would be "job status", which has two
groups: "regular" and "contractual").
The following are the five assumptions for t- test:
Assumption 1 The dependent variable should be measured at the interval or ratio
level (i.e., they are continuous).
Examples of variables that meet this criterion include customers’ satisfaction (measured
from 1 to 5), intelligence (measured using IQ score), exam performance (measured from 0
to 100), weight (measured in kg), and so forth.
Assumption 2
The independent variable should consist of two categorical, independent
groups.
Examples of independent variables that meet this criterion include gender (2 groups:
male or female), employment status (2 groups: employed or unemployed), residence (2
groups: rural or urban), and so forth.
Assumption
. 3 There should be an independence of observations, meaning we are
comparing in t-test two unrelated groups. Unrelated groups, also called unpaired groups
or independent groups, are groups in which the cases (e.g., participants) in each group
are different. This means that there is no relationship between the observations in each
group or between the groups themselves
Assumption 4
1. The dependent variable should be approximately normally distributed for
each group of the independent variable. There should be at least 15 samples per group
Assumption 5 There is need for homogeneous variances. This means that the population
variances in each group are equal. The independent t-test assumes the variances of the two
groups you are measuring are equal in the population. The assumption of homogeneity of
variance can be tested using Levene's Test of Equality of Variances, which is produced in SPSS
Statistics when running the independent t-test procedure.
Step1: In the variable view encode groupings (independent variable) and moisture(dependent
variable)
Enter in the value labels; 1 fruits, 2 vegetables
Step2: In the data view, encode the data in the activity below
Step3
When done with encoding, click data view, run the t-test using the steps below
Analyze, compare means, Independent Sample t test
Step4: Enter moisture to test variable
Enter groupings to grouping variable
In the define groups, enter group 1 - fruits; group 2 - vegetables
Step5
This is the output view of t- test for independent samples in PSPP
since sig(2-tailed)=0.005 is less than 0.05
the result shows that there is a significant difference in the moisture content between fruits and
vegetables
therefore the moisture content between fruits and vegetables varies significantly in favor of
vegetables (higher mean)
Step6
What if the result of t-test for independent samples looks this?
since sig(2-tailed)=0.200 is greater than 0.05
the result shows that there is no significant difference in the moisture content between fruits and
vegetables
therefore the moisture content between fruits and vegetables varies is considered to be the same.
Steps in Hypothesis Testing
Example 1:
1. State the null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis
Ho: There is no significant difference in the moisture content of fruit and vegetable
Ha: There is a significant difference in the moisture content of fruit and vegetable
2. Choose the Level of significance: 0.05
3. Statistical Tool; t-test for Independent Samples
4. Compute the value of test statistic from the sample data
5. Make Decision
Since the Sig(2-tailed) > 0.05
0.563 > 0.05 ; Not Significant ;
The mean of two groups being compared do not vary significantly; perceived to be the same
Note since Sig = 0.039 ( Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances) we will use the value of Sig (2-
tailed) in the Equal variances not assumed
Example 2:
1. State the null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis
Ho: There is no significant difference in the moisture content of fruit and vegetable
Ha: There is a significant difference in the moisture content of fruit and vegetable
2. Choose the Level of significance: 0.05
3. Statistical Tool; t-test for Independent Samples
4. Compute the value of test statistic from the sample data
5. Make Decision
Since the Sig(2-tailed) ≤ 0.05
0.008 < 0.05 ; Significant;
The mean of two groups being compared vary significantly in favor of the higher mean
Note since Sig = 0.706 ( Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances) we will use the value of Sig (2-
tailed) in the Equal variances assumed
