DSRT 734: Choosing a T-Test for Two Independent Branches

DSRT 734 Question

A company wants to test if employees at branch A spend more time than
employees at branch B working directly with customers. They collect a
sample of 150 employees from branch A and 150 employees from branch B
and measure how many hours a day they spend directly with customers.
What kind of t-test should the researcher use?

Option A

ANOVA


Option B

Paired samples t-test (dependent samples)


Option C

One-sample t-test


Option D

Two-sample t-test (independent samples)

What this question assesses

This prompt assesses method selection from the structure of a research design: the number of groups, whether observations are paired, the measurement scale of the outcome, and the direction of the research claim.

How to approach this type of question

Translate the scenario into a design map before looking at the options. Identify the outcome as daily customer-contact hours and determine how many group labels are compared. Ask whether the same employee contributes a value under both branch conditions, whether people were deliberately matched, or whether each observation belongs to only one branch. Next distinguish a comparison against a fixed benchmark from a comparison between sampled groups. The wording “more time” affects the alternative hypothesis, but it does not by itself decide whether observations are paired or independent. Finally check whether a multi-group procedure is necessary or whether the design contains only one contrast. Use those features to eliminate methods whose sampling structure does not match. A complete analysis would also check distributional conditions, unusual values, and variance handling once data are available. This page provides the selection criteria without identifying an option.

Write a one-line design notation such as “one score per employee, two branch groups” before selecting a method. Check whether employee selection within each branch was independent and whether the outcome’s daily-hour distribution contains severe skew or outliers. The large stated sample sizes may support some robustness, but they do not turn paired data into independent data or vice versa. If the research direction is retained, document whether a one-sided hypothesis was established before examining results.

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Related DSRT 734 resources

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