Appendix C: Principles of Statistical Testing

Abstract

Here, we will briefly recap the basic principles of statistical testing. For an in depth treatment we recommend, for example, [3]. We will start with the classical examples of the Z-test and t-test to assess statistical hypotheses concerned with sample means. We then describe the classical approaches to ANOVA and multiple regression, before we show how these procedures can be described using the unifying framework of general linear models (GLMs). After briefly discussing generalized linear models, we will cover the nonparametric counterparts of the t-test, ANOVA and regression. The chapter will conclude with the chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test as primary examples of statistical tests adapted to the analysis of qualitative variables.