A student's confusion over Student's t-test values

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the application of Student's t-test, specifically addressing critical values and interpreting negative t-values. For degrees of freedom (df) not explicitly listed in the Student's t distribution table, interpolation between the nearest values is recommended, such as between df 100 and df 140 for df 120. A negative t-value indicates that the sample mean is less than the hypothesized mean, which is a valid outcome in hypothesis testing and not necessarily an error.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of independent t-tests
  • Familiarity with Student's t distribution
  • Knowledge of hypothesis testing concepts
  • Basic statistical analysis skills
NEXT STEPS
  • Research interpolation methods for critical values in statistical tables
  • Study the implications of negative t-values in hypothesis testing
  • Learn about the assumptions and conditions for using Student's t-test
  • Explore statistical software options for conducting t-tests, such as R or Python's SciPy library
USEFUL FOR

Students, educators, and researchers in statistics or data analysis who are working with t-tests and need clarity on critical values and interpretation of results.

anisotropic
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Hello,

I've been working on this assignment for the past while, having to do with independent t-tests and the like. I have two major questions that I can't wrap my head around:

- When looking at the critical values of Student's t distribution table, what do you use as a critical value if your df value is not listed specifically? Say you need to know the critical value for a df of 120, but it only has the critical values for a df of 100 and a df of 140...
- On one of the [computer generated] analyses, I keep getting negative values for the t-value (-5.xxxx). I have no clue what this means. How is a negative number significant? Is it an error I've made?
 
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- Interpolate between 100 and 140.
- the numerator for the t value is = (statistic - hypothesis). If statistic < hypothesis then t < 0.
 
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