In: Statistics and Probability
We measured weight gain in students in their freshmen year to see if the Freshmen 15 is real or not. My hypothesis for whether there will be a difference in weight gain between males and females was that it would be fairly the same.
The data we got was:
For females, the mean is 2.640, the standard deviation is 5.961, the maximum is 15.4 and the minimum is -8.8. For male, the mean is 2.544, the standard deviation is 10.808, the maximum is 24.2 and the minimum is -28.6.
We got the same mean for both, but different standard deviations. What does this mean? If the data is more spread out for males, does that mean that the weight gain was different for males despite pretty much the same mean? Did I support or not support my hypothesis? What can I further say about the data to support that answer?
The hypothesis being tested is:
H0: µ1 = µ2
H1: µ1 ≠ µ2
Females | Males | |
2.64 | 2.544 | mean |
5.961 | 10.808 | std. dev. |
15 | 15 | n |
28 | df | |
0.096000 | difference (Females - Males) | |
76.173193 | pooled variance | |
8.727726 | pooled std. dev. | |
3.186915 | standard error of difference | |
0 | hypothesized difference | |
0.030 | t | |
.9762 | p-value (two-tailed) |
Since the p-value (0.9762) is greater than the significance level (0.05), we cannot reject the null hypothesis.
Therefore, we cannot conclude that there will be a difference in weight gain between males and females.
In other words, it would be the same (weight gain between males and females will be the same).