Question

a researcher measures the number of trials it takes two samples of participants to master a new task. in both samples, SS=240. sample a consisted of 12 participants and sample b consisted of 18 participants. which sample is associated with the largest variance?

Answer 1

SS: Sum of squares

Sample Variance: formula :

For sample a : Sample consisted of 12 participants : n=12

Sample variance for sample a : s_a

For sample b : Sample consisted of 18 participants : n=18

Sample variance for sample a : s_b

As can observed : Var_a : 21.8182 > Var_b : 14.1176;

Sample 'a' is associated with larger variance.

When SS is same; whichever sample with lower sample size will have more variance.