Question

A PhD student wants to examine whether an after-school program improves attendance rates at a high school. She recorded 50 participants attendance rates before participating in the after-school program, then recorded ther attendance rates after participating in the after-school program. Based on the available information, which statistical test should she use to see whether the after-school program improved attendance rates?

Answer 1

Answer: paired t-test for difference in means

Explanation:

Here, we are interested in the mean attendance rates of the same 50 participants before participating and after participating in the after-school program.

So, there is one to one correspondence of attendance rates before and after participating the program which means that the after program attendance score of one participant corresponds to the before program attendance score of the same participant only, which makes them a paired observation.

Hence, an ideal statistical test to be used would be paired two sample t-test.