A recent study posed the question about whether Japanese managers are more motivated than American managers.A randomly selected sample of each was administered the Sarnoff Survey of Attitudes Toward Life (SSATL),which measures motivation for upward mobility.The SSATL scores are summarized below. Judging from the way the data were collected,which test would likely be most appropriate?
A)Related samples t-test for mean difference
B)Pooled-variance t-test for the difference in means
C)Independent samples Z-test for the difference in means
D)Related samples Z-test for mean difference

Question

A recent study posed the question about whether Japanese managers are more motivated than American managers.A randomly selected sample of each was administered the Sarnoff Survey of Attitudes Toward Life (SSATL),which measures motivation for upward mobility.The SSATL scores are summarized below.  Judging from the way the data were collected,which test would likely be most appropriate?
A)Related samples t-test for mean difference 
B)Pooled-variance t-test for the difference in means 
C)Independent samples Z-test for the difference in means 
D)Related samples Z-test for mean difference

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Since the study involved comparing two groups (Japanese and American managers) that were unrelated to each other, the appropriate test would be the independent samples t-test or z-test for the difference in means. Option C suggests an independent samples z-test, which is appropriate for this situation. Option A, related samples t-test, is used for analyzing data from paired samples. Option B, pooled-variance t-test for the difference in means, assumes that the population variances are approximately equal, which may not be the case in this study. Option D, related samples z-test for the mean difference, is used when the data are from matched or paired samples, which is not the case in this study.

A Recent Study Posed the Question About Whether Japanese Managers