3.8 Inference for Experiments

Outline an experiment that uses a completely randomized design.

Explain the concept of statistical significance in the context of an experiment.

The mean improvement for patients with the active magnet is 5.24 and the mean improvement for the patients with inactive magnets is 1.10, resulting in a difference of 5.24 - 1.10 = 4.14.

The researchers in this study determined that the difference of 4.14 was statistically significant. In other words, a difference in mean improvement of 4.14 was too large to occur simply due to chance variability in the random assignment.

What if the researchers in this study determined that the difference of 4.14 was not statistically significant.

A difference in mean improvement of 4.14 was small enough that it could be due to chance variation in the random assignment to treatments.

Use simulation to determine if the difference between two means or two proportions in an experiment is significant.