You Make the Call

For each of the following situations, indicate whether or not the researcher made the right decision in regard to the test statistic they chose and why you say that.If you disagree with the choice, indicate what statistic you would use instead and why.

11.A Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner working in the Veteran's Affairs organization primarily treats individuals diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He is also a licensed massage therapist and would like to implement an evidence-based massage therapy protocol that has been shown to decrease anxiety in individuals suffering from PTSD. The PNP obtains Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval and implements the EBP protocol. He has hypothesized that there will be a difference in anxiety scores (20-item anxiety survey) between those who receive the EBP massage protocol and those who do not. He plans to evaluate if there is a difference by using a dependent samples t-test. Did he make the right call?

12.A nurse educator has identified that students in a medical/surgical class consistently struggle with content related to hemodynamic instability. The educator is assigned to teach three sections of the course and trials a different teaching approach in each class (1 - reading only, 2 - reading & interactive activity, 3 - interactive activity only). The educator then compares the exam scores for each class to see if there is a difference based on teaching approach using a one-way ANOVA. Did the educator make the right call?