2 sample t test for sample sizes - 30,000 and 150,000How to perform t-test with huge samples?Safely determining sample size for A/B testingPower of the t-test under unequal sample sizesA/B test with unequal sample sizeIndependent samples t-test with unequal sample sizesHow to test for significance if groups differed at baseline?Sample size for A/B testingPaired T-Test and general linear hypothesisDetermining minimum required sample size for control (for purposes of measuring lift)Which hypothesis test to use to compare two data sets that have a lot of zeros?Non-inferiority margin and minimum detectable effect vs sample size
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2 sample t test for sample sizes - 30,000 and 150,000
How to perform t-test with huge samples?Safely determining sample size for A/B testingPower of the t-test under unequal sample sizesA/B test with unequal sample sizeIndependent samples t-test with unequal sample sizesHow to test for significance if groups differed at baseline?Sample size for A/B testingPaired T-Test and general linear hypothesisDetermining minimum required sample size for control (for purposes of measuring lift)Which hypothesis test to use to compare two data sets that have a lot of zeros?Non-inferiority margin and minimum detectable effect vs sample size
.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;
$begingroup$
I have 2 samples, one with sample size of 30,000 customers and the other with 150,000. I have to perform a 2 sample t test(on conversion rates of the 2 groups). My question is, will t test in this case be biased towards the smaller sample? If yes, what is the correct approach to perform a test?
hypothesis-testing statistical-significance t-test ab-test
New contributor
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I have 2 samples, one with sample size of 30,000 customers and the other with 150,000. I have to perform a 2 sample t test(on conversion rates of the 2 groups). My question is, will t test in this case be biased towards the smaller sample? If yes, what is the correct approach to perform a test?
hypothesis-testing statistical-significance t-test ab-test
New contributor
$endgroup$
7
$begingroup$
Samples of that size will almost certainly result in statistically significant findings, but the differences may not be of any practical significance. See here for another discussion about this: stats.stackexchange.com/questions/4075/…. What are the actual goals of your analysis too?
$endgroup$
– StatsStudent
Apr 22 at 19:24
$begingroup$
the test was to determine which list is better in conversion for emails.1 list was from a prediction model(30,000) and the other, the current list(150,000). We had set up an initial test frame but previous conversion rates(0.05%) and power analysis yielding huge sample sizes for significance, we decided to disregard the framework(our model could not have produced huge sample without lowering the accuracy). Hence, we decided to send the emails to both the lists and compute the results after. We have the conversions now and are trying to establish whether or not the difference is significant
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
$begingroup$
Are the 30,000 predicted a selection of the predictive most likely to respond from the larger list of 150,000? Can there be any overlap?
$endgroup$
– StatsStudent
2 days ago
$begingroup$
there were overlaps, we had removed them from the current list of 150,000(so that a customer didn't receive the same email twice). But while computing conversions we did include the overlap in both the lists(for fair comparison). Please note as the test was to compare conversion rates of lists; same email was sent to both the lists
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I have 2 samples, one with sample size of 30,000 customers and the other with 150,000. I have to perform a 2 sample t test(on conversion rates of the 2 groups). My question is, will t test in this case be biased towards the smaller sample? If yes, what is the correct approach to perform a test?
hypothesis-testing statistical-significance t-test ab-test
New contributor
$endgroup$
I have 2 samples, one with sample size of 30,000 customers and the other with 150,000. I have to perform a 2 sample t test(on conversion rates of the 2 groups). My question is, will t test in this case be biased towards the smaller sample? If yes, what is the correct approach to perform a test?
hypothesis-testing statistical-significance t-test ab-test
hypothesis-testing statistical-significance t-test ab-test
New contributor
New contributor
edited Apr 22 at 17:53
Shivam Tiwari
New contributor
asked Apr 22 at 17:40
Shivam TiwariShivam Tiwari
112
112
New contributor
New contributor
7
$begingroup$
Samples of that size will almost certainly result in statistically significant findings, but the differences may not be of any practical significance. See here for another discussion about this: stats.stackexchange.com/questions/4075/…. What are the actual goals of your analysis too?
$endgroup$
– StatsStudent
Apr 22 at 19:24
$begingroup$
the test was to determine which list is better in conversion for emails.1 list was from a prediction model(30,000) and the other, the current list(150,000). We had set up an initial test frame but previous conversion rates(0.05%) and power analysis yielding huge sample sizes for significance, we decided to disregard the framework(our model could not have produced huge sample without lowering the accuracy). Hence, we decided to send the emails to both the lists and compute the results after. We have the conversions now and are trying to establish whether or not the difference is significant
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
$begingroup$
Are the 30,000 predicted a selection of the predictive most likely to respond from the larger list of 150,000? Can there be any overlap?
$endgroup$
– StatsStudent
2 days ago
$begingroup$
there were overlaps, we had removed them from the current list of 150,000(so that a customer didn't receive the same email twice). But while computing conversions we did include the overlap in both the lists(for fair comparison). Please note as the test was to compare conversion rates of lists; same email was sent to both the lists
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
add a comment |
7
$begingroup$
Samples of that size will almost certainly result in statistically significant findings, but the differences may not be of any practical significance. See here for another discussion about this: stats.stackexchange.com/questions/4075/…. What are the actual goals of your analysis too?
$endgroup$
– StatsStudent
Apr 22 at 19:24
$begingroup$
the test was to determine which list is better in conversion for emails.1 list was from a prediction model(30,000) and the other, the current list(150,000). We had set up an initial test frame but previous conversion rates(0.05%) and power analysis yielding huge sample sizes for significance, we decided to disregard the framework(our model could not have produced huge sample without lowering the accuracy). Hence, we decided to send the emails to both the lists and compute the results after. We have the conversions now and are trying to establish whether or not the difference is significant
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
$begingroup$
Are the 30,000 predicted a selection of the predictive most likely to respond from the larger list of 150,000? Can there be any overlap?
$endgroup$
– StatsStudent
2 days ago
$begingroup$
there were overlaps, we had removed them from the current list of 150,000(so that a customer didn't receive the same email twice). But while computing conversions we did include the overlap in both the lists(for fair comparison). Please note as the test was to compare conversion rates of lists; same email was sent to both the lists
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
7
7
$begingroup$
Samples of that size will almost certainly result in statistically significant findings, but the differences may not be of any practical significance. See here for another discussion about this: stats.stackexchange.com/questions/4075/…. What are the actual goals of your analysis too?
$endgroup$
– StatsStudent
Apr 22 at 19:24
$begingroup$
Samples of that size will almost certainly result in statistically significant findings, but the differences may not be of any practical significance. See here for another discussion about this: stats.stackexchange.com/questions/4075/…. What are the actual goals of your analysis too?
$endgroup$
– StatsStudent
Apr 22 at 19:24
$begingroup$
the test was to determine which list is better in conversion for emails.1 list was from a prediction model(30,000) and the other, the current list(150,000). We had set up an initial test frame but previous conversion rates(0.05%) and power analysis yielding huge sample sizes for significance, we decided to disregard the framework(our model could not have produced huge sample without lowering the accuracy). Hence, we decided to send the emails to both the lists and compute the results after. We have the conversions now and are trying to establish whether or not the difference is significant
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
$begingroup$
the test was to determine which list is better in conversion for emails.1 list was from a prediction model(30,000) and the other, the current list(150,000). We had set up an initial test frame but previous conversion rates(0.05%) and power analysis yielding huge sample sizes for significance, we decided to disregard the framework(our model could not have produced huge sample without lowering the accuracy). Hence, we decided to send the emails to both the lists and compute the results after. We have the conversions now and are trying to establish whether or not the difference is significant
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
$begingroup$
Are the 30,000 predicted a selection of the predictive most likely to respond from the larger list of 150,000? Can there be any overlap?
$endgroup$
– StatsStudent
2 days ago
$begingroup$
Are the 30,000 predicted a selection of the predictive most likely to respond from the larger list of 150,000? Can there be any overlap?
$endgroup$
– StatsStudent
2 days ago
$begingroup$
there were overlaps, we had removed them from the current list of 150,000(so that a customer didn't receive the same email twice). But while computing conversions we did include the overlap in both the lists(for fair comparison). Please note as the test was to compare conversion rates of lists; same email was sent to both the lists
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
$begingroup$
there were overlaps, we had removed them from the current list of 150,000(so that a customer didn't receive the same email twice). But while computing conversions we did include the overlap in both the lists(for fair comparison). Please note as the test was to compare conversion rates of lists; same email was sent to both the lists
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
Maybe a couple of examples will help to illustrate some of the issues.
Suppose the two populations are $X sim mathsfNorm(mu = 500, sigma =30)$
and $Y sim mathsfNorm(mu = 501, sigma = 20.)$
If both sample sizes are $150,000,$ then there is sufficient power to detect
the small difference in means.
set.seed(422)
x = rnorm(150000, 500, 30)
y = rnorm(150000, 501, 20)
t.test(x, y)
Welch Two Sample t-test
data: x and y
t = -10.983, df = 261530, p-value < 2.2e-16
alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
95 percent confidence interval:
-1.2042715 -0.8395487
sample estimates:
mean of x mean of y
499.9804 501.0023
If we use only the first 30,000 values in the first sample, results are
very nearly the same for most practical purposes.
t.test(x[1:30000], y)
Welch Two Sample t-test
data: x[1:30000] and y
t = -6.3728, df = 35463, p-value = 1.879e-10
alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
95 percent confidence interval:
-1.5126269 -0.8010336
sample estimates:
mean of x mean of y
499.8455 501.0023
Here is a boxplot of the data used in the second t test (the wider box indicates a larger sample):
Issues of minimal concern:
Even though labeled as 'Welch t tests', sample sizes are sufficiently large
that these are essentially t tests. Unless the data are very far from normal,
we would still detect the small difference in means.The power of the test is heavily dependent on the smaller sample size. But
power is not a concern here.
Issues warranting attention:
With such large samples
in the real world (not the simulation world),
one is entitled to wonder whether data are truly simple random samples from
their respective populations. Could smaller, more carefully collected samples provide better information?Although we did not do a formal test to confirm that variances differ, it seems clear from the boxplot that they do. In the Welch test,
it is OK for variances to differ. But would different variances have important practical implications?Although the null hypothesis that the two population means are equal is soundly rejected with minuscule P-values, it is important to realize that "statistically significant" differences (by whatever definition) are not necessarily differences of practical importance or interest. For what purpose are you
taking the effort of check whether means are different? And what do the results
of the t test actually contribute to that purpose?
$endgroup$
1
$begingroup$
the test was to determine which list is better in conversion for emails.1 list was from a prediction model(30,000) and the other, the current list(150,000). We had set up an initial test frame but previous conversion rates(0.05%) and power analysis yielding huge sample sizes for significance, we decided to disregard the framework(our model could not have produced huge sample without lowering the accuracy). Hence, we decided to send the emails to both the lists and compute the results after. We have the conversions now and are trying to establish whether or not the difference is significant
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I can hardly imagine any worthwhile effect size that requires such a large sample size to be decently powered. There's no "bias" of having unequal sample sizes$^1$. The only disadvantage is that the power of the test tends to be somewhat limited by the smaller group. For even very small effects, 30,000 observations may confer quite a powerful test.
$^1$ except if you inappropriately use the "equal variance" assumption, in which case the "pooled variance" estimate is more heavily weighted toward the larger group (not toward the smaller as you suggested).
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I agree with the most that was said so far but I do not completely agree with the satement from @AdamO that "There's no "bias" of having unequal sample sizes".
Unfortunately, we don't know what the purpose of your study is. But let's assume you are interested in gender differences in regard to salary. We know that in population there should be about 50% male and 50% female and hence if you had drawn random samples and if there was MAR (missing at random) we would expect both groups having approximately same sample sizes. To put it differently, if the ratio between sample sizes of both groups is very different than their ratio in the population this can indicate that either the samples are not random (what could cause a bias) or that the missings are not random (what could cause a bias, too). Talking about the gender example I would be surprised if someone would report such big differences in samples sizes (for example: Did more women refuse to answer questions about their salary? Are the women who responded to the question representative or did only those with a high salary answer the question? And so on... Non-random missings would obviously cause a bias here and make the results misleading).
Thus the question that I would ask myself is why the groups have unequal sample sizes. If there is an reasonable answer like "There are more people without heart failure than people with heart failure" the data might be alright. But if you would expect equal sample sizes based on what you know about the groups in the population there might be some bias because the samples/ the missings seem to be not random.
New contributor
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
You seem to be conflating the idea of "bias" and "inefficient design". One is the property of a statistic (in this case the mean difference), the other is a property of a test. The mean difference is never biased no matter how imbalanced the sample. But the power of the test can suffer.
$endgroup$
– AdamO
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I think I used the word "bias" differently but since I explained what I mean I guess this should be okay to understand what problem to my understanding can arise if the groups are very unequal. I don't know what the word for the misleading effect I describe is correct. Please edit if you think it is necessary.
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
you can't disagree with me based on a fundamentally incorrect understanding of a term.
$endgroup$
– AdamO
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I don't disagree but just say that I don't know another word for the problem that I describe. Pleaae read my comment carefully. And I welcome it if you edit my answer. Although the definition found on wiki "Statistical bias is a feature of a statistical technique or of its results whereby the expected value of the results differs from the true underlying quantitative parameter being estimated." does agree with my way using the word. On wikipedia this effect is called "selection bias".
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I find your comment quite harsh and want to show you some definition of my "fundamentally incorrect understanding of a term". Maybe you simply never learnt this meaning of that term? See here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selection_bias
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
add a comment |
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3 Answers
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3 Answers
3
active
oldest
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oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
Maybe a couple of examples will help to illustrate some of the issues.
Suppose the two populations are $X sim mathsfNorm(mu = 500, sigma =30)$
and $Y sim mathsfNorm(mu = 501, sigma = 20.)$
If both sample sizes are $150,000,$ then there is sufficient power to detect
the small difference in means.
set.seed(422)
x = rnorm(150000, 500, 30)
y = rnorm(150000, 501, 20)
t.test(x, y)
Welch Two Sample t-test
data: x and y
t = -10.983, df = 261530, p-value < 2.2e-16
alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
95 percent confidence interval:
-1.2042715 -0.8395487
sample estimates:
mean of x mean of y
499.9804 501.0023
If we use only the first 30,000 values in the first sample, results are
very nearly the same for most practical purposes.
t.test(x[1:30000], y)
Welch Two Sample t-test
data: x[1:30000] and y
t = -6.3728, df = 35463, p-value = 1.879e-10
alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
95 percent confidence interval:
-1.5126269 -0.8010336
sample estimates:
mean of x mean of y
499.8455 501.0023
Here is a boxplot of the data used in the second t test (the wider box indicates a larger sample):
Issues of minimal concern:
Even though labeled as 'Welch t tests', sample sizes are sufficiently large
that these are essentially t tests. Unless the data are very far from normal,
we would still detect the small difference in means.The power of the test is heavily dependent on the smaller sample size. But
power is not a concern here.
Issues warranting attention:
With such large samples
in the real world (not the simulation world),
one is entitled to wonder whether data are truly simple random samples from
their respective populations. Could smaller, more carefully collected samples provide better information?Although we did not do a formal test to confirm that variances differ, it seems clear from the boxplot that they do. In the Welch test,
it is OK for variances to differ. But would different variances have important practical implications?Although the null hypothesis that the two population means are equal is soundly rejected with minuscule P-values, it is important to realize that "statistically significant" differences (by whatever definition) are not necessarily differences of practical importance or interest. For what purpose are you
taking the effort of check whether means are different? And what do the results
of the t test actually contribute to that purpose?
$endgroup$
1
$begingroup$
the test was to determine which list is better in conversion for emails.1 list was from a prediction model(30,000) and the other, the current list(150,000). We had set up an initial test frame but previous conversion rates(0.05%) and power analysis yielding huge sample sizes for significance, we decided to disregard the framework(our model could not have produced huge sample without lowering the accuracy). Hence, we decided to send the emails to both the lists and compute the results after. We have the conversions now and are trying to establish whether or not the difference is significant
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Maybe a couple of examples will help to illustrate some of the issues.
Suppose the two populations are $X sim mathsfNorm(mu = 500, sigma =30)$
and $Y sim mathsfNorm(mu = 501, sigma = 20.)$
If both sample sizes are $150,000,$ then there is sufficient power to detect
the small difference in means.
set.seed(422)
x = rnorm(150000, 500, 30)
y = rnorm(150000, 501, 20)
t.test(x, y)
Welch Two Sample t-test
data: x and y
t = -10.983, df = 261530, p-value < 2.2e-16
alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
95 percent confidence interval:
-1.2042715 -0.8395487
sample estimates:
mean of x mean of y
499.9804 501.0023
If we use only the first 30,000 values in the first sample, results are
very nearly the same for most practical purposes.
t.test(x[1:30000], y)
Welch Two Sample t-test
data: x[1:30000] and y
t = -6.3728, df = 35463, p-value = 1.879e-10
alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
95 percent confidence interval:
-1.5126269 -0.8010336
sample estimates:
mean of x mean of y
499.8455 501.0023
Here is a boxplot of the data used in the second t test (the wider box indicates a larger sample):
Issues of minimal concern:
Even though labeled as 'Welch t tests', sample sizes are sufficiently large
that these are essentially t tests. Unless the data are very far from normal,
we would still detect the small difference in means.The power of the test is heavily dependent on the smaller sample size. But
power is not a concern here.
Issues warranting attention:
With such large samples
in the real world (not the simulation world),
one is entitled to wonder whether data are truly simple random samples from
their respective populations. Could smaller, more carefully collected samples provide better information?Although we did not do a formal test to confirm that variances differ, it seems clear from the boxplot that they do. In the Welch test,
it is OK for variances to differ. But would different variances have important practical implications?Although the null hypothesis that the two population means are equal is soundly rejected with minuscule P-values, it is important to realize that "statistically significant" differences (by whatever definition) are not necessarily differences of practical importance or interest. For what purpose are you
taking the effort of check whether means are different? And what do the results
of the t test actually contribute to that purpose?
$endgroup$
1
$begingroup$
the test was to determine which list is better in conversion for emails.1 list was from a prediction model(30,000) and the other, the current list(150,000). We had set up an initial test frame but previous conversion rates(0.05%) and power analysis yielding huge sample sizes for significance, we decided to disregard the framework(our model could not have produced huge sample without lowering the accuracy). Hence, we decided to send the emails to both the lists and compute the results after. We have the conversions now and are trying to establish whether or not the difference is significant
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Maybe a couple of examples will help to illustrate some of the issues.
Suppose the two populations are $X sim mathsfNorm(mu = 500, sigma =30)$
and $Y sim mathsfNorm(mu = 501, sigma = 20.)$
If both sample sizes are $150,000,$ then there is sufficient power to detect
the small difference in means.
set.seed(422)
x = rnorm(150000, 500, 30)
y = rnorm(150000, 501, 20)
t.test(x, y)
Welch Two Sample t-test
data: x and y
t = -10.983, df = 261530, p-value < 2.2e-16
alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
95 percent confidence interval:
-1.2042715 -0.8395487
sample estimates:
mean of x mean of y
499.9804 501.0023
If we use only the first 30,000 values in the first sample, results are
very nearly the same for most practical purposes.
t.test(x[1:30000], y)
Welch Two Sample t-test
data: x[1:30000] and y
t = -6.3728, df = 35463, p-value = 1.879e-10
alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
95 percent confidence interval:
-1.5126269 -0.8010336
sample estimates:
mean of x mean of y
499.8455 501.0023
Here is a boxplot of the data used in the second t test (the wider box indicates a larger sample):
Issues of minimal concern:
Even though labeled as 'Welch t tests', sample sizes are sufficiently large
that these are essentially t tests. Unless the data are very far from normal,
we would still detect the small difference in means.The power of the test is heavily dependent on the smaller sample size. But
power is not a concern here.
Issues warranting attention:
With such large samples
in the real world (not the simulation world),
one is entitled to wonder whether data are truly simple random samples from
their respective populations. Could smaller, more carefully collected samples provide better information?Although we did not do a formal test to confirm that variances differ, it seems clear from the boxplot that they do. In the Welch test,
it is OK for variances to differ. But would different variances have important practical implications?Although the null hypothesis that the two population means are equal is soundly rejected with minuscule P-values, it is important to realize that "statistically significant" differences (by whatever definition) are not necessarily differences of practical importance or interest. For what purpose are you
taking the effort of check whether means are different? And what do the results
of the t test actually contribute to that purpose?
$endgroup$
Maybe a couple of examples will help to illustrate some of the issues.
Suppose the two populations are $X sim mathsfNorm(mu = 500, sigma =30)$
and $Y sim mathsfNorm(mu = 501, sigma = 20.)$
If both sample sizes are $150,000,$ then there is sufficient power to detect
the small difference in means.
set.seed(422)
x = rnorm(150000, 500, 30)
y = rnorm(150000, 501, 20)
t.test(x, y)
Welch Two Sample t-test
data: x and y
t = -10.983, df = 261530, p-value < 2.2e-16
alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
95 percent confidence interval:
-1.2042715 -0.8395487
sample estimates:
mean of x mean of y
499.9804 501.0023
If we use only the first 30,000 values in the first sample, results are
very nearly the same for most practical purposes.
t.test(x[1:30000], y)
Welch Two Sample t-test
data: x[1:30000] and y
t = -6.3728, df = 35463, p-value = 1.879e-10
alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0
95 percent confidence interval:
-1.5126269 -0.8010336
sample estimates:
mean of x mean of y
499.8455 501.0023
Here is a boxplot of the data used in the second t test (the wider box indicates a larger sample):
Issues of minimal concern:
Even though labeled as 'Welch t tests', sample sizes are sufficiently large
that these are essentially t tests. Unless the data are very far from normal,
we would still detect the small difference in means.The power of the test is heavily dependent on the smaller sample size. But
power is not a concern here.
Issues warranting attention:
With such large samples
in the real world (not the simulation world),
one is entitled to wonder whether data are truly simple random samples from
their respective populations. Could smaller, more carefully collected samples provide better information?Although we did not do a formal test to confirm that variances differ, it seems clear from the boxplot that they do. In the Welch test,
it is OK for variances to differ. But would different variances have important practical implications?Although the null hypothesis that the two population means are equal is soundly rejected with minuscule P-values, it is important to realize that "statistically significant" differences (by whatever definition) are not necessarily differences of practical importance or interest. For what purpose are you
taking the effort of check whether means are different? And what do the results
of the t test actually contribute to that purpose?
edited Apr 22 at 19:42
answered Apr 22 at 19:10
BruceETBruceET
7,2511721
7,2511721
1
$begingroup$
the test was to determine which list is better in conversion for emails.1 list was from a prediction model(30,000) and the other, the current list(150,000). We had set up an initial test frame but previous conversion rates(0.05%) and power analysis yielding huge sample sizes for significance, we decided to disregard the framework(our model could not have produced huge sample without lowering the accuracy). Hence, we decided to send the emails to both the lists and compute the results after. We have the conversions now and are trying to establish whether or not the difference is significant
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
add a comment |
1
$begingroup$
the test was to determine which list is better in conversion for emails.1 list was from a prediction model(30,000) and the other, the current list(150,000). We had set up an initial test frame but previous conversion rates(0.05%) and power analysis yielding huge sample sizes for significance, we decided to disregard the framework(our model could not have produced huge sample without lowering the accuracy). Hence, we decided to send the emails to both the lists and compute the results after. We have the conversions now and are trying to establish whether or not the difference is significant
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
1
1
$begingroup$
the test was to determine which list is better in conversion for emails.1 list was from a prediction model(30,000) and the other, the current list(150,000). We had set up an initial test frame but previous conversion rates(0.05%) and power analysis yielding huge sample sizes for significance, we decided to disregard the framework(our model could not have produced huge sample without lowering the accuracy). Hence, we decided to send the emails to both the lists and compute the results after. We have the conversions now and are trying to establish whether or not the difference is significant
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
$begingroup$
the test was to determine which list is better in conversion for emails.1 list was from a prediction model(30,000) and the other, the current list(150,000). We had set up an initial test frame but previous conversion rates(0.05%) and power analysis yielding huge sample sizes for significance, we decided to disregard the framework(our model could not have produced huge sample without lowering the accuracy). Hence, we decided to send the emails to both the lists and compute the results after. We have the conversions now and are trying to establish whether or not the difference is significant
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I can hardly imagine any worthwhile effect size that requires such a large sample size to be decently powered. There's no "bias" of having unequal sample sizes$^1$. The only disadvantage is that the power of the test tends to be somewhat limited by the smaller group. For even very small effects, 30,000 observations may confer quite a powerful test.
$^1$ except if you inappropriately use the "equal variance" assumption, in which case the "pooled variance" estimate is more heavily weighted toward the larger group (not toward the smaller as you suggested).
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I can hardly imagine any worthwhile effect size that requires such a large sample size to be decently powered. There's no "bias" of having unequal sample sizes$^1$. The only disadvantage is that the power of the test tends to be somewhat limited by the smaller group. For even very small effects, 30,000 observations may confer quite a powerful test.
$^1$ except if you inappropriately use the "equal variance" assumption, in which case the "pooled variance" estimate is more heavily weighted toward the larger group (not toward the smaller as you suggested).
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I can hardly imagine any worthwhile effect size that requires such a large sample size to be decently powered. There's no "bias" of having unequal sample sizes$^1$. The only disadvantage is that the power of the test tends to be somewhat limited by the smaller group. For even very small effects, 30,000 observations may confer quite a powerful test.
$^1$ except if you inappropriately use the "equal variance" assumption, in which case the "pooled variance" estimate is more heavily weighted toward the larger group (not toward the smaller as you suggested).
$endgroup$
I can hardly imagine any worthwhile effect size that requires such a large sample size to be decently powered. There's no "bias" of having unequal sample sizes$^1$. The only disadvantage is that the power of the test tends to be somewhat limited by the smaller group. For even very small effects, 30,000 observations may confer quite a powerful test.
$^1$ except if you inappropriately use the "equal variance" assumption, in which case the "pooled variance" estimate is more heavily weighted toward the larger group (not toward the smaller as you suggested).
edited Apr 22 at 19:49
answered Apr 22 at 17:49
AdamOAdamO
35.3k266143
35.3k266143
add a comment |
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I agree with the most that was said so far but I do not completely agree with the satement from @AdamO that "There's no "bias" of having unequal sample sizes".
Unfortunately, we don't know what the purpose of your study is. But let's assume you are interested in gender differences in regard to salary. We know that in population there should be about 50% male and 50% female and hence if you had drawn random samples and if there was MAR (missing at random) we would expect both groups having approximately same sample sizes. To put it differently, if the ratio between sample sizes of both groups is very different than their ratio in the population this can indicate that either the samples are not random (what could cause a bias) or that the missings are not random (what could cause a bias, too). Talking about the gender example I would be surprised if someone would report such big differences in samples sizes (for example: Did more women refuse to answer questions about their salary? Are the women who responded to the question representative or did only those with a high salary answer the question? And so on... Non-random missings would obviously cause a bias here and make the results misleading).
Thus the question that I would ask myself is why the groups have unequal sample sizes. If there is an reasonable answer like "There are more people without heart failure than people with heart failure" the data might be alright. But if you would expect equal sample sizes based on what you know about the groups in the population there might be some bias because the samples/ the missings seem to be not random.
New contributor
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
You seem to be conflating the idea of "bias" and "inefficient design". One is the property of a statistic (in this case the mean difference), the other is a property of a test. The mean difference is never biased no matter how imbalanced the sample. But the power of the test can suffer.
$endgroup$
– AdamO
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I think I used the word "bias" differently but since I explained what I mean I guess this should be okay to understand what problem to my understanding can arise if the groups are very unequal. I don't know what the word for the misleading effect I describe is correct. Please edit if you think it is necessary.
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
you can't disagree with me based on a fundamentally incorrect understanding of a term.
$endgroup$
– AdamO
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I don't disagree but just say that I don't know another word for the problem that I describe. Pleaae read my comment carefully. And I welcome it if you edit my answer. Although the definition found on wiki "Statistical bias is a feature of a statistical technique or of its results whereby the expected value of the results differs from the true underlying quantitative parameter being estimated." does agree with my way using the word. On wikipedia this effect is called "selection bias".
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I find your comment quite harsh and want to show you some definition of my "fundamentally incorrect understanding of a term". Maybe you simply never learnt this meaning of that term? See here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selection_bias
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I agree with the most that was said so far but I do not completely agree with the satement from @AdamO that "There's no "bias" of having unequal sample sizes".
Unfortunately, we don't know what the purpose of your study is. But let's assume you are interested in gender differences in regard to salary. We know that in population there should be about 50% male and 50% female and hence if you had drawn random samples and if there was MAR (missing at random) we would expect both groups having approximately same sample sizes. To put it differently, if the ratio between sample sizes of both groups is very different than their ratio in the population this can indicate that either the samples are not random (what could cause a bias) or that the missings are not random (what could cause a bias, too). Talking about the gender example I would be surprised if someone would report such big differences in samples sizes (for example: Did more women refuse to answer questions about their salary? Are the women who responded to the question representative or did only those with a high salary answer the question? And so on... Non-random missings would obviously cause a bias here and make the results misleading).
Thus the question that I would ask myself is why the groups have unequal sample sizes. If there is an reasonable answer like "There are more people without heart failure than people with heart failure" the data might be alright. But if you would expect equal sample sizes based on what you know about the groups in the population there might be some bias because the samples/ the missings seem to be not random.
New contributor
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
You seem to be conflating the idea of "bias" and "inefficient design". One is the property of a statistic (in this case the mean difference), the other is a property of a test. The mean difference is never biased no matter how imbalanced the sample. But the power of the test can suffer.
$endgroup$
– AdamO
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I think I used the word "bias" differently but since I explained what I mean I guess this should be okay to understand what problem to my understanding can arise if the groups are very unequal. I don't know what the word for the misleading effect I describe is correct. Please edit if you think it is necessary.
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
you can't disagree with me based on a fundamentally incorrect understanding of a term.
$endgroup$
– AdamO
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I don't disagree but just say that I don't know another word for the problem that I describe. Pleaae read my comment carefully. And I welcome it if you edit my answer. Although the definition found on wiki "Statistical bias is a feature of a statistical technique or of its results whereby the expected value of the results differs from the true underlying quantitative parameter being estimated." does agree with my way using the word. On wikipedia this effect is called "selection bias".
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I find your comment quite harsh and want to show you some definition of my "fundamentally incorrect understanding of a term". Maybe you simply never learnt this meaning of that term? See here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selection_bias
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I agree with the most that was said so far but I do not completely agree with the satement from @AdamO that "There's no "bias" of having unequal sample sizes".
Unfortunately, we don't know what the purpose of your study is. But let's assume you are interested in gender differences in regard to salary. We know that in population there should be about 50% male and 50% female and hence if you had drawn random samples and if there was MAR (missing at random) we would expect both groups having approximately same sample sizes. To put it differently, if the ratio between sample sizes of both groups is very different than their ratio in the population this can indicate that either the samples are not random (what could cause a bias) or that the missings are not random (what could cause a bias, too). Talking about the gender example I would be surprised if someone would report such big differences in samples sizes (for example: Did more women refuse to answer questions about their salary? Are the women who responded to the question representative or did only those with a high salary answer the question? And so on... Non-random missings would obviously cause a bias here and make the results misleading).
Thus the question that I would ask myself is why the groups have unequal sample sizes. If there is an reasonable answer like "There are more people without heart failure than people with heart failure" the data might be alright. But if you would expect equal sample sizes based on what you know about the groups in the population there might be some bias because the samples/ the missings seem to be not random.
New contributor
$endgroup$
I agree with the most that was said so far but I do not completely agree with the satement from @AdamO that "There's no "bias" of having unequal sample sizes".
Unfortunately, we don't know what the purpose of your study is. But let's assume you are interested in gender differences in regard to salary. We know that in population there should be about 50% male and 50% female and hence if you had drawn random samples and if there was MAR (missing at random) we would expect both groups having approximately same sample sizes. To put it differently, if the ratio between sample sizes of both groups is very different than their ratio in the population this can indicate that either the samples are not random (what could cause a bias) or that the missings are not random (what could cause a bias, too). Talking about the gender example I would be surprised if someone would report such big differences in samples sizes (for example: Did more women refuse to answer questions about their salary? Are the women who responded to the question representative or did only those with a high salary answer the question? And so on... Non-random missings would obviously cause a bias here and make the results misleading).
Thus the question that I would ask myself is why the groups have unequal sample sizes. If there is an reasonable answer like "There are more people without heart failure than people with heart failure" the data might be alright. But if you would expect equal sample sizes based on what you know about the groups in the population there might be some bias because the samples/ the missings seem to be not random.
New contributor
edited 2 days ago
New contributor
answered 2 days ago
stats.and.rstats.and.r
4019
4019
New contributor
New contributor
$begingroup$
You seem to be conflating the idea of "bias" and "inefficient design". One is the property of a statistic (in this case the mean difference), the other is a property of a test. The mean difference is never biased no matter how imbalanced the sample. But the power of the test can suffer.
$endgroup$
– AdamO
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I think I used the word "bias" differently but since I explained what I mean I guess this should be okay to understand what problem to my understanding can arise if the groups are very unequal. I don't know what the word for the misleading effect I describe is correct. Please edit if you think it is necessary.
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
you can't disagree with me based on a fundamentally incorrect understanding of a term.
$endgroup$
– AdamO
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I don't disagree but just say that I don't know another word for the problem that I describe. Pleaae read my comment carefully. And I welcome it if you edit my answer. Although the definition found on wiki "Statistical bias is a feature of a statistical technique or of its results whereby the expected value of the results differs from the true underlying quantitative parameter being estimated." does agree with my way using the word. On wikipedia this effect is called "selection bias".
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I find your comment quite harsh and want to show you some definition of my "fundamentally incorrect understanding of a term". Maybe you simply never learnt this meaning of that term? See here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selection_bias
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
You seem to be conflating the idea of "bias" and "inefficient design". One is the property of a statistic (in this case the mean difference), the other is a property of a test. The mean difference is never biased no matter how imbalanced the sample. But the power of the test can suffer.
$endgroup$
– AdamO
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I think I used the word "bias" differently but since I explained what I mean I guess this should be okay to understand what problem to my understanding can arise if the groups are very unequal. I don't know what the word for the misleading effect I describe is correct. Please edit if you think it is necessary.
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
you can't disagree with me based on a fundamentally incorrect understanding of a term.
$endgroup$
– AdamO
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I don't disagree but just say that I don't know another word for the problem that I describe. Pleaae read my comment carefully. And I welcome it if you edit my answer. Although the definition found on wiki "Statistical bias is a feature of a statistical technique or of its results whereby the expected value of the results differs from the true underlying quantitative parameter being estimated." does agree with my way using the word. On wikipedia this effect is called "selection bias".
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I find your comment quite harsh and want to show you some definition of my "fundamentally incorrect understanding of a term". Maybe you simply never learnt this meaning of that term? See here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selection_bias
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
You seem to be conflating the idea of "bias" and "inefficient design". One is the property of a statistic (in this case the mean difference), the other is a property of a test. The mean difference is never biased no matter how imbalanced the sample. But the power of the test can suffer.
$endgroup$
– AdamO
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
You seem to be conflating the idea of "bias" and "inefficient design". One is the property of a statistic (in this case the mean difference), the other is a property of a test. The mean difference is never biased no matter how imbalanced the sample. But the power of the test can suffer.
$endgroup$
– AdamO
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I think I used the word "bias" differently but since I explained what I mean I guess this should be okay to understand what problem to my understanding can arise if the groups are very unequal. I don't know what the word for the misleading effect I describe is correct. Please edit if you think it is necessary.
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I think I used the word "bias" differently but since I explained what I mean I guess this should be okay to understand what problem to my understanding can arise if the groups are very unequal. I don't know what the word for the misleading effect I describe is correct. Please edit if you think it is necessary.
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
you can't disagree with me based on a fundamentally incorrect understanding of a term.
$endgroup$
– AdamO
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
you can't disagree with me based on a fundamentally incorrect understanding of a term.
$endgroup$
– AdamO
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I don't disagree but just say that I don't know another word for the problem that I describe. Pleaae read my comment carefully. And I welcome it if you edit my answer. Although the definition found on wiki "Statistical bias is a feature of a statistical technique or of its results whereby the expected value of the results differs from the true underlying quantitative parameter being estimated." does agree with my way using the word. On wikipedia this effect is called "selection bias".
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I don't disagree but just say that I don't know another word for the problem that I describe. Pleaae read my comment carefully. And I welcome it if you edit my answer. Although the definition found on wiki "Statistical bias is a feature of a statistical technique or of its results whereby the expected value of the results differs from the true underlying quantitative parameter being estimated." does agree with my way using the word. On wikipedia this effect is called "selection bias".
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I find your comment quite harsh and want to show you some definition of my "fundamentally incorrect understanding of a term". Maybe you simply never learnt this meaning of that term? See here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selection_bias
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AdamO: I find your comment quite harsh and want to show you some definition of my "fundamentally incorrect understanding of a term". Maybe you simply never learnt this meaning of that term? See here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selection_bias
$endgroup$
– stats.and.r
9 hours ago
add a comment |
Shivam Tiwari is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Shivam Tiwari is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Shivam Tiwari is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Shivam Tiwari is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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7
$begingroup$
Samples of that size will almost certainly result in statistically significant findings, but the differences may not be of any practical significance. See here for another discussion about this: stats.stackexchange.com/questions/4075/…. What are the actual goals of your analysis too?
$endgroup$
– StatsStudent
Apr 22 at 19:24
$begingroup$
the test was to determine which list is better in conversion for emails.1 list was from a prediction model(30,000) and the other, the current list(150,000). We had set up an initial test frame but previous conversion rates(0.05%) and power analysis yielding huge sample sizes for significance, we decided to disregard the framework(our model could not have produced huge sample without lowering the accuracy). Hence, we decided to send the emails to both the lists and compute the results after. We have the conversions now and are trying to establish whether or not the difference is significant
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago
$begingroup$
Are the 30,000 predicted a selection of the predictive most likely to respond from the larger list of 150,000? Can there be any overlap?
$endgroup$
– StatsStudent
2 days ago
$begingroup$
there were overlaps, we had removed them from the current list of 150,000(so that a customer didn't receive the same email twice). But while computing conversions we did include the overlap in both the lists(for fair comparison). Please note as the test was to compare conversion rates of lists; same email was sent to both the lists
$endgroup$
– Shivam Tiwari
2 days ago