Choosing which method to use for answering different scientific or research questions

The method choice begins with the research question. This means the method choice should be made based on the fact that it can or cannot answer the scientific question.

Let’s consider an example.

We have the average height of a group of people, and we want to compare that average against a hypothesized mean of people in that country. For this situation, we would use a one-sample Student’s t-test. Why do we use the term one-sample? Well, because we are comparing just one sample against a certain mean we expected.

Let’s consider another example.

Are there any differences in HDL values between different genders in diabetic subjects? To answer this question, we need to take into consideration how to represent HDL in diabetics. The best way is to use the average or mean value. Now, once we have decided the metric mean, we need to use the appropriate test. You can use a...