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t-procedures for population mean or difference of population means

Definition

T-procedures are statistical methods used to make inferences about population means or differences between population means based on sample data. They rely on t-distributions instead of normal distributions when certain assumptions about the population are not met.

Analogy

Think of t-procedures as using special glasses that correct your vision when regular glasses won't work properly due to specific conditions, such as astigmatism. T-procedures help us make accurate estimations and draw conclusions about populations even when our data doesn't perfectly meet all assumptions.

Related terms

Confidence Interval: A range of values within which we estimate that a population parameter lies with a certain level of confidence. It's like estimating where a dart will land on a target board, knowing that there might be some error but still being fairly confident about its location.

One-sample t-test: A statistical test used to determine if the mean of a single sample is significantly different from a hypothesized population mean. It's like comparing the average height of a group of students to the average height of all students in the school.

Independent samples t-test: A statistical test used to compare the means of two independent groups and determine if they are significantly different from each other. It's like comparing the average scores of two different classes to see if one class performed better than the other.