Independent Samples Hypothesis Test

This tutorial explains how to use the Data Analysis Toolpak in Excel to test for a difference beween two independent sample means. It explains how to set up the problem and interpret the output. The tutorial shows the procedure for testing two means when the variances of the two samples is considered equal. However, as you will see the samples sizes are quite different and while the variances were tested for equality, it is common to consider them unequal when the sample size difference is large. The procedure and interpretation of output is the same whether the variances are considered equal or not; the only sifference is in the degrees of freedom where situations involving unequal variances generally have fewer degrees of freedom. With fewer degrees of freedom the null hypothesis will be somewhat harder to reject.