Which of the following values could the experimental difference of the study have been?

Question

A student performs a study and measures the experimental difference of a study and then performs 200 resamplings of the data as shown in the figure. Then the student concludes that the study is valid. Which of the following values could the experimental difference of the study have been?

A) 0

B) -1.0

C) 0.8

D) 1.4

Answer 1

The resampling distribution of mean differences is centered well above 0, with most of the values clustered between about 0 and 1.5. Since the study is concluded to be valid, the experimental difference should be a value that lies within the main body of this distribution and not near 0 or in the tails. A value of 1.4 falls clearly within the region of high frequency, making it a plausible experimental difference. Therefore, the experimental difference of the study could have been 1.4.