Psychology

One of my interests nowadays is using the Internet. Considering the said interest, the research question that I wish to explore is that Is there a difference between Internet usage of people who are exposed to computer lessons (control group) and people who do not have any knowledge of computers (placebo) By addressing this research question, one would be able to determine if instant education of people in using computers have an impact on the Internet usage of people.

The variable of interest is the Internet usage of people. The Internet usage is measured in hours. The said variable is the dependent variable and is in ratio level of measurement. The independent variable for the study is the exposure to computer lessons. The exposure to computer lessons is a nominal scale variable with a value of 1 for the group of people who are exposed to computer lessons and 0 for the group of people who are not exposed to computer lessons. The expected outcome of the research is that people who are exposed to computer lessons should have a higher Internet usage than the people who are not exposed to computer lessons.

Independent sample t-test is used to determine whether there is a difference in the mean of two independent samples. When one speaks of independent, it means that measurements obtained from the population are replicated. In addition, the replicated measurements are obtained by measuring two different groups of samples. Thus, independent samples are obtained (Howell, 2008). Since the stated research question would be obtained by replicating the measurements from two samples, then the researcher is obtaining independent samples. Thus, the use of independent t-test is appropriate for the analysis of the research question.

Related Samples T-test
In relation to my interest which is Internet, I am a bit curious of whether the Internet usage of people will increase when the speed of the Internet is also increased. The research question of interest is that Is there a difference between Internet usage of people before and after the Internet speed has increased

Two variables are related to the research question first is the Internet usage measured in hours and second is the increase of Internet speed which is represented as 0 for no Internet speed increase and 1 for increased Internet speed. The Internet usage is the variable of interest. The said variable is of ratio level of measurement. On the other hand, the Internet speed variable is the grouping variable for the research. The said variable is a nominal scale variable. The expected outcome of the study is that Internet usage is greater when the Internet speed is increased rather than before the Internet speed is increased.

Related samples t-test is used to determine if there is a significant difference between the mean of before and after measurements of a single group. A common example is a pre-test and post-test in students. Measurements are obtained in the pre-test. A certain factor is then applied like teaching techniques, after which the students will take a post test. The average of the tests will be determined and related samples t-test can be used to analyze if there is a significant difference between the pre and post test average scores (Howell, 2008).

The stated research question is the same as the pre-test and post-test approach to determining if a treatment is effective. The pre-test is the time when the Internet speed is not increased while the post-test is the application of increased Internet speed. Related samples t-test is the appropriate test for the research question since it is focused only on the differences in the average Internet usage of a single group before and after the Internet speed increased.