36 Selecting an analysis
Selecting the correct confidence interval or hypothesis test can be tricky. This book only describes a small number of possible scenarios. For the situations studied in this book, determining if the variables are qualitative or quantitative is important (Table 36.1). To compare more than two means, a situation not covered in this book, analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used.
So far, only descriptive and relational RQs have been studied. The next two chapters consider correlational RQs (Sect. 2.6). Appendix C may also prove useful.
36.1 Exercises
Answers to odd-numbered exercises are available in App. E.
Exercise 36.1 Suppose researchers compare the average number of hours of exercise per week for office workers, both in summer and in winter, to see if the averages are different.
What methods would be a suitable for creating a summary and performing analyses?
Exercise 36.2 Suppose we wish to estimate the difference between the mean number of hours of sunlight exposure per day for female and male teachers.
What methods would be a suitable for creating a summary and performing analyses?
Exercise 36.3 Suppose researchers wish to compare the proportion of trees with koalas in them, comparing trees more than \(10\) m tall with trees \(10\) m or shorter.
What methods would be a suitable for creating a summary and performing analyses?
Exercise 36.4 Suppose researchers are wanting to estimate the difference between the mean number of hours spent on social media for people aged over \(30\), to people aged \(30\) and under.
What methods would be a suitable for creating a summary and performing analyses?
The following short video may help explain some of these concepts. Note that the test for correlation and regression have not yet been covered in this book (but they will be in the next few chapters).