Two sample t test - equal variances not assumed - overview
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Two sample $t$ test - equal variances not assumed | Spearman's rho | McNemar's test | Two sample $t$ test - equal variances not assumed | Regression (OLS) |
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Independent/grouping variable | Variable 1 | Independent variable | Independent/grouping variable | Independent variables | |
One categorical with 2 independent groups | One of ordinal level | 2 paired groups | One categorical with 2 independent groups | One or more quantitative of interval or ratio level and/or one or more categorical with independent groups, transformed into code variables | |
Dependent variable | Variable 2 | Dependent variable | Dependent variable | Dependent variable | |
One quantitative of interval or ratio level | One of ordinal level | One categorical with 2 independent groups | One quantitative of interval or ratio level | One quantitative of interval or ratio level | |
Null hypothesis | Null hypothesis | Null hypothesis | Null hypothesis | Null hypothesis | |
H0: $\mu_1 = \mu_2$
Here $\mu_1$ is the population mean for group 1, and $\mu_2$ is the population mean for group 2. | H0: $\rho_s = 0$
Here $\rho_s$ is the Spearman correlation in the population. The Spearman correlation is a measure for the strength and direction of the monotonic relationship between two variables of at least ordinal measurement level. In words, the null hypothesis would be: H0: there is no monotonic relationship between the two variables in the population. | Let's say that the scores on the dependent variable are scored 0 and 1. Then for each pair of scores, the data allow four options:
Other formulations of the null hypothesis are:
| H0: $\mu_1 = \mu_2$
Here $\mu_1$ is the population mean for group 1, and $\mu_2$ is the population mean for group 2. | $F$ test for the complete regression model:
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Alternative hypothesis | Alternative hypothesis | Alternative hypothesis | Alternative hypothesis | Alternative hypothesis | |
H1 two sided: $\mu_1 \neq \mu_2$ H1 right sided: $\mu_1 > \mu_2$ H1 left sided: $\mu_1 < \mu_2$ | H1 two sided: $\rho_s \neq 0$ H1 right sided: $\rho_s > 0$ H1 left sided: $\rho_s < 0$ | The alternative hypothesis H1 is that for each pair of scores, P(first score of pair is 0 while second score of pair is 1) $\neq$ P(first score of pair is 1 while second score of pair is 0). That is, the probability that a pair of scores switches from 0 to 1 is not the same as the probability that a pair of scores switches from 1 to 0. Other formulations of the alternative hypothesis are:
| H1 two sided: $\mu_1 \neq \mu_2$ H1 right sided: $\mu_1 > \mu_2$ H1 left sided: $\mu_1 < \mu_2$ | $F$ test for the complete regression model:
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Assumptions | Assumptions | Assumptions | Assumptions | Assumptions | |
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Test statistic | Test statistic | Test statistic | Test statistic | Test statistic | |
$t = \dfrac{(\bar{y}_1 - \bar{y}_2) - 0}{\sqrt{\dfrac{s^2_1}{n_1} + \dfrac{s^2_2}{n_2}}} = \dfrac{\bar{y}_1 - \bar{y}_2}{\sqrt{\dfrac{s^2_1}{n_1} + \dfrac{s^2_2}{n_2}}}$
Here $\bar{y}_1$ is the sample mean in group 1, $\bar{y}_2$ is the sample mean in group 2, $s^2_1$ is the sample variance in group 1, $s^2_2$ is the sample variance in group 2, $n_1$ is the sample size of group 1, and $n_2$ is the sample size of group 2. The 0 represents the difference in population means according to the null hypothesis. The denominator $\sqrt{\frac{s^2_1}{n_1} + \frac{s^2_2}{n_2}}$ is the standard error of the sampling distribution of $\bar{y}_1 - \bar{y}_2$. The $t$ value indicates how many standard errors $\bar{y}_1 - \bar{y}_2$ is removed from 0. Note: we could just as well compute $\bar{y}_2 - \bar{y}_1$ in the numerator, but then the left sided alternative becomes $\mu_2 < \mu_1$, and the right sided alternative becomes $\mu_2 > \mu_1$. | $t = \dfrac{r_s \times \sqrt{N - 2}}{\sqrt{1 - r_s^2}} $ Here $r_s$ is the sample Spearman correlation and $N$ is the sample size. The sample Spearman correlation $r_s$ is equal to the Pearson correlation applied to the rank scores. | $X^2 = \dfrac{(b - c)^2}{b + c}$
Here $b$ is the number of pairs in the sample for which the first score is 0 while the second score is 1, and $c$ is the number of pairs in the sample for which the first score is 1 while the second score is 0. | $t = \dfrac{(\bar{y}_1 - \bar{y}_2) - 0}{\sqrt{\dfrac{s^2_1}{n_1} + \dfrac{s^2_2}{n_2}}} = \dfrac{\bar{y}_1 - \bar{y}_2}{\sqrt{\dfrac{s^2_1}{n_1} + \dfrac{s^2_2}{n_2}}}$
Here $\bar{y}_1$ is the sample mean in group 1, $\bar{y}_2$ is the sample mean in group 2, $s^2_1$ is the sample variance in group 1, $s^2_2$ is the sample variance in group 2, $n_1$ is the sample size of group 1, and $n_2$ is the sample size of group 2. The 0 represents the difference in population means according to the null hypothesis. The denominator $\sqrt{\frac{s^2_1}{n_1} + \frac{s^2_2}{n_2}}$ is the standard error of the sampling distribution of $\bar{y}_1 - \bar{y}_2$. The $t$ value indicates how many standard errors $\bar{y}_1 - \bar{y}_2$ is removed from 0. Note: we could just as well compute $\bar{y}_2 - \bar{y}_1$ in the numerator, but then the left sided alternative becomes $\mu_2 < \mu_1$, and the right sided alternative becomes $\mu_2 > \mu_1$. | $F$ test for the complete regression model:
Note 2: if there is only one independent variable in the model ($K = 1$), the $F$ test for the complete regression model is equivalent to the two sided $t$ test for $\beta_1.$ | |
n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | Sample standard deviation of the residuals $s$ | |
- | - | - | - | $\begin{aligned} s &= \sqrt{\dfrac{\sum (y_j - \hat{y}_j)^2}{N - K - 1}}\\ &= \sqrt{\dfrac{\mbox{sum of squares error}}{\mbox{degrees of freedom error}}}\\ &= \sqrt{\mbox{mean square error}} \end{aligned} $ | |
Sampling distribution of $t$ if H0 were true | Sampling distribution of $t$ if H0 were true | Sampling distribution of $X^2$ if H0 were true | Sampling distribution of $t$ if H0 were true | Sampling distribution of $F$ and of $t$ if H0 were true | |
Approximately the $t$ distribution with $k$ degrees of freedom, with $k$ equal to $k = \dfrac{\Bigg(\dfrac{s^2_1}{n_1} + \dfrac{s^2_2}{n_2}\Bigg)^2}{\dfrac{1}{n_1 - 1} \Bigg(\dfrac{s^2_1}{n_1}\Bigg)^2 + \dfrac{1}{n_2 - 1} \Bigg(\dfrac{s^2_2}{n_2}\Bigg)^2}$ or $k$ = the smaller of $n_1$ - 1 and $n_2$ - 1 First definition of $k$ is used by computer programs, second definition is often used for hand calculations. | Approximately the $t$ distribution with $N - 2$ degrees of freedom | If $b + c$ is large enough (say, > 20), approximately the chi-squared distribution with 1 degree of freedom. If $b + c$ is small, the Binomial($n$, $P$) distribution should be used, with $n = b + c$ and $P = 0.5$. In that case the test statistic becomes equal to $b$. | Approximately the $t$ distribution with $k$ degrees of freedom, with $k$ equal to $k = \dfrac{\Bigg(\dfrac{s^2_1}{n_1} + \dfrac{s^2_2}{n_2}\Bigg)^2}{\dfrac{1}{n_1 - 1} \Bigg(\dfrac{s^2_1}{n_1}\Bigg)^2 + \dfrac{1}{n_2 - 1} \Bigg(\dfrac{s^2_2}{n_2}\Bigg)^2}$ or $k$ = the smaller of $n_1$ - 1 and $n_2$ - 1 First definition of $k$ is used by computer programs, second definition is often used for hand calculations. | Sampling distribution of $F$:
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Significant? | Significant? | Significant? | Significant? | Significant? | |
Two sided:
| Two sided:
| For test statistic $X^2$:
| Two sided:
| $F$ test:
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Approximate $C\%$ confidence interval for $\mu_1 - \mu_2$ | n.a. | n.a. | Approximate $C\%$ confidence interval for $\mu_1 - \mu_2$ | $C\%$ confidence interval for $\beta_k$ and for $\mu_y$, $C\%$ prediction interval for $y_{new}$ | |
$(\bar{y}_1 - \bar{y}_2) \pm t^* \times \sqrt{\dfrac{s^2_1}{n_1} + \dfrac{s^2_2}{n_2}}$
where the critical value $t^*$ is the value under the $t_{k}$ distribution with the area $C / 100$ between $-t^*$ and $t^*$ (e.g. $t^*$ = 2.086 for a 95% confidence interval when df = 20). The confidence interval for $\mu_1 - \mu_2$ can also be used as significance test. | - | - | $(\bar{y}_1 - \bar{y}_2) \pm t^* \times \sqrt{\dfrac{s^2_1}{n_1} + \dfrac{s^2_2}{n_2}}$
where the critical value $t^*$ is the value under the $t_{k}$ distribution with the area $C / 100$ between $-t^*$ and $t^*$ (e.g. $t^*$ = 2.086 for a 95% confidence interval when df = 20). The confidence interval for $\mu_1 - \mu_2$ can also be used as significance test. | Confidence interval for $\beta_k$:
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n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | Effect size | |
- | - | - | - | Complete model:
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Visual representation | n.a. | n.a. | Visual representation | Visual representation | |
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n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | ANOVA table | |
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n.a. | n.a. | Equivalent to | n.a. | n.a. | |
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Example context | Example context | Example context | Example context | Example context | |
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