I am planning an evaluation which will deploy pre- and post-tests for one group of students. I would like to perform a dependent t-test but may not be able to perform a repeated measures analysis since we may not be able to collect full names, maybe only ages from the students.
Is there any meaningful difference between a matched pairs (e.g., pairing by ages) versus repeated measures analysis? My preference would be to perform a repeated measures analysis if we could ask the students to enter their full names. If we can't collect names and have to do a matched pairs analysis using ages, would there be any disadvantage in doing so?
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Best Answer
Your question is really unclear.
What I can say is that you cannot do a matched pairs or repeated measures test if you can only identify pairs/groups of tests by age. The assumption for such tests requires that you can identify which observations are repeated measures on the same experimental unit.