Australian Critical Care
Volume 23, Issue 3 , Pages 160-166, August 2010

Testing differences between two samples of continuous data

  • Sandra M.C. Pereira, PhD, BSc (Hons), GradDip, MSc

      Affiliations

    • Faculty of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
    • School of Nursing and Midwifery, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author at: Research and Higher Degrees Office, Faculty of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia 6027, Australia. Tel.: +61 8 6304 5395; fax: +61 8 6304 5840.
    • ,
  • Gavin Leslie, RN, PhD, BAppSc, PostGradDip (Clin Nurs), FRCNA

      Affiliations

    • School of Nursing and Midwifery, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Received 30 March 2010; received in revised form 1 June 2010; accepted 9 June 2010. published online 05 July 2010.

Summary 

In this article the circumstances and techniques used to test a hypothesis by comparing information from two random samples to identify possible or existing difference amongst the target population are presented. This is based on continuous data collected from two samples after which a comparison can be made that may then be generalised to the source population. The terminology of the method is briefly explained including basic concepts such as survey errors and probabilistic chance. Hypothesis test methods are described for two types of samples: independent and dependent, and examples of some of the most commonly used test in health research are given for parametric and non-parametric source distributions.

Testing difference between two samples of continuous data is an important and frequently applied process of making a decision about the main differences in a population of interest in health research.

Keywords: Two samples, t-Test, z-Test, Mann–Whitney U test, Wilcoxon signed rank test

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PII: S1036-7314(10)00083-4

doi:10.1016/j.aucc.2010.06.002

Australian Critical Care
Volume 23, Issue 3 , Pages 160-166, August 2010

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