Masking Experiment Statistics Assignment

The appropriate test to use for this demonstration is the t-test for a two-group, within-subjects design experiment. If the null hypothesis is true, then the difference between the means of the masking and non-masking groups will be zero. I would typically calculate the estimated variance and estimated standard error of the means for my t-test, but in keeping with the Excel Assignment for this data, I will use the sample statistics instead of estimated population statistics. The independent t-test may also have seemed appropriate, but our data is from a within-subjects design, not a between-subjects design.

If the alternate hypothesis is true, then our test will support that there may be a difference between the two conditions. The criterion used in the decision will be a critical t value. This value implicates 1Q (because we assume that the masking variable will impede performance) and an alpha level of .05. The critical T value is thus, for 22 degrees of freedom, 1.717. The obtained t-value is 9.165. Because this value exceeds the critical value, we can reject the null hypothesis.