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The One Sample t Test compares a sample mean to a hypothesized population mean to determine whether the
two means are signicantly dierent.

Home One Sample t Test

Getting Started
The One Sample t Test determines whether the sample mean is
with SPSS
statistically different from a known or hypothesized population
Working with mean. The One Sample t Test is a parametric test.
Data
This test is also known as:
Exploring Data

Analyzing Data Single Sample t Test

Chi-Square
The variable used in this test is known as:
Test of
Independence
Test variable
Pearson
Correlation In a One Sample t Test, the test variable is compared against a "test
value", which is a known or hypothesized value of the mean in the
One Sample t
population.
Test

Paired
Samples t Test

Independent
Samples t Test

One-Way
ANOVA

How to Cite the

Tutorials

Sample Data
Files

Our tutorials
reference a
dataset called
"sample" in many
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 examples.
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Common Uses
like to download
the sample The One Sample t Test is commonly used to test the following:
dataset to work
through the Statistical difference between a sample mean and a known or
examples, choose hypothesized value of the mean in the population.
one of the les Statistical difference between the sample mean and the sample
below: midpoint of the test variable.
Statistical difference between the sample mean of the test
 Data variable and chance.
de nitions This approach involves rst calculating the chance level on
(*.pdf) the test variable. The chance level is then used as the test
 Data - value against which the sample mean of the test variable is
Comma compared.
delimited Statistical difference between a change score and zero.
(*.csv) This approach involves creating a change score from two
variables, and then comparing the mean change score to
 Data -
zero, which will indicate whether any change occurred
Tab
between the two time points for the original measures. If the
delimited
mean change score is not signi cantly different from zero,
(*.txt)
no signi cant change occurred.
 Data -
Excel format Note: The One Sample t Test can only compare a single sample
(*.xlsx) mean to a speci ed constant. It can not compare sample means

 Data - between two or more groups. If you wish to compare the means of

SAS format multiple groups to each other, you will likely want to run an
(*.sas7bdat) Independent Samples t Test (to compare the means of two groups) or
a One-Way ANOVA (to compare the means of two or more groups).
 Data -
SPSS format
(*.sav)

 SPSS
Syntax
(*.sps) 

 SAS
Syntax
(*.sas) 

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Data Requirements

Your data must meet the following requirements:

1. Test variable that is continuous (i.e., interval or ratio level)

2. Scores on the test variable are independent (i.e., independence of
observations)
There is no relationship between scores on the test variable
Violation of this assumption will yield an inaccurate p value
3. Random sample of data from the population
4. Normal distribution (approximately) of the sample and
population on the test variable
Non-normal population distributions, especially those that are
thick-tailed or heavily skewed, considerably reduce the power
of the test
Among moderate or large samples, a violation of normality
may still yield accurate p values
5. Homogeneity of variances (i.e., variances approximately equal in
both the sample and population)
6. No outliers

Hypotheses

The null hypothesis (H0) and (two-tailed) alternative hypothesis (H1)

of the one sample T test can be expressed as:

H0: µ = x  ("the sample mean is equal to the [proposed]

population mean")
H1: µ ≠ x  ("the sample mean is not equal to the [proposed]
population mean")

where µ is a constant proposed for the population mean and x is the

sample mean.

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Test Statistic

The test statistic for a One Sample t Test is denoted t, which is

calculated using the following formula:

¯¯
x̄ − μ
t =
s¯¯
¯
x

where

s
s¯¯
¯ =
x −
−
√n

where

μ = Proposed constant for the population mean

x̄ = Sample mean
n = Sample size (i.e., number of observations)
s = Sample standard deviation
sx̄ = Estimated standard error of the mean (s/sqrt(n))

The calculated t value is then compared to the critical t value from

the t distribution table with degrees of freedom df = n - 1 and chosen
con dence level. If the calculated t value > critical t value, then we
reject the null hypothesis.

Data Set-Up

Your data should include one continuous, numeric variable

(represented in a column) that will be used in the analysis. The
variable's measurement level should be de ned as Scale in the
Variable View window.

Run a One Sample t Test

To run a One Sample t Test in SPSS, click Analyze > Compare Means

> One-Sample T Test.

The One-Sample T Test window opens where you will specify the
variables to be used in the analysis. All of the variables in your
dataset appear
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One Sample t Testby selecting
- SPSS Tutorials - them inat the
LibGuides list University
Kent State and clicking the arrow
button.

A Test Variable(s): The variable whose mean will be compared to

the hypothesized population mean (i.e., Test Value). You may run
multiple One Sample t Tests simultaneously by selecting more than
one test variable. Each variable will be compared to the same Test
Value. 

B Test Value: The hypothesized population mean against which

your test variable(s) will be compared.

C Options: Clicking Options will open a window where you can

specify the Con dence Interval Percentage and how the analysis
will address Missing Values (i.e., Exclude cases analysis by analysis
or Exclude cases listwise). Click Continue when you are nished
making speci cations.

Click OK to run the One Sample t Test.

Example
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11/29/2018 One Sample t Test - SPSS Tutorials - LibGuides at Kent State University
PROBLEM STATEMENT
According to the CDC, the mean height of adults ages 20 and older is
about 66.5 inches (69.3 inches for males, 63.8 inches for females).
Let's test if the mean height of our sample data is signi cantly
different than 66.5 inches using a one-sample t test. The null and
alternative hypotheses of this test will be:

H0: 66.5 = µHeight  ("the mean height of the sample is equal to

66.5")
H1: 66.5 ≠ µHeight  ("the mean height of the sample is not equal to
66.5")

where 66.5 is the CDC's estimate of average height for adults, and x
Height is the mean height of the sample.

BEFORE THE TEST

In the sample data, we will use the variable Height, which a
continuous variable representing each respondent’s height in
inches. The heights exhibit a range of values from 55.00 to 88.41
(Analyze > Descriptive Statistics > Descriptives).

Let's create a histogram of the data to get an idea of the distribution,

and to see if  our hypothesized mean is near our sample mean. Click
Graphs > Legacy Dialogs > Histogram. Move variable Height to the
Variable box, then click OK.

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To add vertical reference lines at the mean (or another location),

double-click on the plot to open the Chart Editor, then click Options >
X Axis Reference Line. In the Properties window, you can enter a
speci c location on the x-axis for the vertical line, or you can choose
to have the reference line at the mean or median of the sample data
(using the sample data). Click Apply to make sure your new line is
added to the chart. Here, we have added two reference lines: one at
the sample mean (the solid black line), and the other at 66.5 (the
dashed red line).

From the histogram, we can see that height is relatively

symmetrically distributed about the mean, though there is a slightly
longer right tail. The reference lines indicate that sample mean is
slightly greater than the hypothesized mean, but not by a huge
amount. It's possible that our test result could come back signi cant.

RUNNING THE TEST

To run the One Sample t Test, click Analyze > Compare Means >
One-Sample T Test. Move the variable Height to the Test Variable(s)
area. In the Test Value eld, enter 66.5, which is the CDC's estimation
of the average height of adults over 20.

Click OK to run the One Sample t Test.

SYNTAX

T-TEST
/TESTVAL=66.5
/MISSING=ANALYSIS
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/VARIABLES H i ht
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One Sample t Test - SPSS Tutorials - LibGuides at Kent State University
/CRITERIA=CI(.95).

OUTPUT
TABLES
Two sections (boxes) appear in the output: One-Sample Statistics
and One-Sample Test. The rst section, One-Sample Statistics,
provides basic information about the selected variable, Height,
including the valid (nonmissing) sample size (n), mean, standard
deviation, and standard error. In this example, the mean height of
the sample is 68.03 inches, which is based on 408 nonmissing
observations.

The second section, One-Sample Test, displays the results most

relevant to the One Sample t Test. 

A Test Value: The number we entered as the test value in the

One-Sample T Test window.

B t Statistic: The test statistic of the one-sample t test, denoted t.

In this example, t = 5.810. Note that t is calculated by dividing the
mean difference (E) by the standard error mean (from the One-
Sample Statistics box).

C df: The degrees of freedom for the test. For a one-sample t test,
df = n - 1; so here, df = 408 - 1 = 407.

D Sig. (2-tailed): The two-tailed p-value corresponding to the test

statistic.

E Mean Difference: The difference between the "observed"

sample mean
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 p ( p )
11/29/2018 One Sample t Test - SPSS Tutorials - LibGuides at Kent State University
"expected" mean (the speci ed test value (A)). The sign of the mean
difference corresponds to the sign of the t value (B). The positive t
value in this example indicates that the mean height of the sample
is greater than the hypothesized value (66.5).

F Con dence Interval for the Difference: The con dence interval
for the difference between the speci ed test value and the sample
mean.

DECISION AND CONCLUSIONS

Since p < 0.001, we reject the null hypothesis that the sample mean
is equal to the hypothesized population mean and conclude that the
mean height of the sample is signi cantly different than the average
height of the overall adult population.

Based on the results, we can state the following:

There is a signi cant difference in mean height between the

sample and the overall adult population (p < .001).
The average height of the sample is about 1.5 inches taller than
the overall adult population average.

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If you have any questions, comments, or corrections
about this tutorial, don't hesitate to contact us at
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