Question

In four to five paragraphs, please elaborate on when to choose an one way anova over an independent sample t-test. In your answer, make sure to provide example of a one-way anova problem and an independent sample t-test problem to demonstrate your points. To refresh your memory, please refer back to the example I provided in this week’s  lecture.

Answer 1

There is a little difference between One Way anova and t - test i.e. when the population means of only two groups is to be compared, the t-test is used, but when means of more than two groups are to be compared, ANOVA is used.

Consider an example, a drug company may want to test a new cancer drug to find out if it improves life expectancy. In an experiment, there’s always a control group (a group who are given a placebo, or “sugar pill”). The control group may show an average life expectancy of +5 years, while the group taking the new drug might have a life expectancy of +6 years. In that case if the case t- test can be used.

Consider the another example , as a crop researcher, you want to test the effect of three different fertilizer mixtures on crop yield. You can use a one-way ANOVA to find out if there is a difference in crop yields between the three groups. In this case you can use One way ANOVA to test the effect 3 fertilizer.