Question

It is a well known fact that talking on a cell phone impairs a driver more than talking to a person sitting in the passenger seat. This is because a passenger can see the road and will stop talking during dangerous driving conditions. We want to know if this is only true for passengers that have experience driving. We recruit 40 participants to be a passenger during a driving simulation and record how many words they say during "dangerous" scenarios. All 20 participants are 18, but only half of them have a driver's license. What statistical test would we use to compare the number or words spoken for people with and without licenses.

Answer 1

The statistical test to use in comparing the number or words spoken for people with and without licenses is independent sample t test.

Explanation:

The sample test to use is an Independent Samples t Test. The reason for using this statistical test is because it takes two independent groups; calculates and compares the means of these groups so as to determine if statistical evidence exists such that the associated population means are significantly different.

In this case, there are two groups of passengers (40, in total);

Group 1 are those who have driving licence while group 2 are those who do not.

Depending on the response from these two groups, the independent sample t test calculates the mean and compares the number or words spoken for people with and without licenses to know passengers experience.