"Andrew L." wrote:
>
> I am anlaysing some data and want to administer a paired t test. Although i
> can perform the test, i am not totally familiar with the t-test. Can anyone
> tell me whether the test relies on having a large number of samples, or
> whether i can still realte an accurate answer from n=4 (n= number of
> participants).
>
> Also, does anyone know what the F stands for - i think it means F-test.
> What is this test designed to show.
I think you should definitely get a basic introductory book on
statistics and brush up on your statistical knowledge. In regards to
your specific questions, the accuracy of your results doesn't really
depend on the sample size, but the precision does. Your comparison of
the means (You do want to compare means, don't you? You didn't
actually say that...) will not be very precise with just 4 samples. F
may stand for an F-test and it may stand for a lot of other things; I
don't normally associate doing a F-test with a paired t-test.
So I would advise, based upon your questions, don't just mechanically
crank a paired t-test through whatever software you have ... sit down
with someone who knows statistics and explain your entire problem to
him or her, and find out if a paired t-test is the right thing to do,
and how a sample size of 4 affects your comparison of the means.
--
Paige Miller
Eastman Kodak Company
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"It's nothing until I call it!" -- Bill Klem, NL Umpire
"Those black-eyed peas tasted all right to me" -- Dixie Chicks
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