When conducting hypothesis tests for two sample means,the test statistic is
A)alphA.
B)the difference in sample means divided by the standard error.
C)the degrees of freedom.
D)the difference in the population means.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The test statistic for hypothesis tests for two sample means is calculated by taking the difference in sample means and dividing it by the standard error. This test statistic allows us to calculate the probability of getting a sample mean difference as extreme as what we observed, given the null hypothesis of no difference between the population means. The other choices are not correct; alpha is the level of significance, the degrees of freedom are also needed for the test, but they are not the test statistic. The difference in population means is not a statistic, but a parameter and it cannot be calculated from the sample data.

When Conducting Hypothesis Tests for Two Sample Means,the Test Statistic